Critical Tassie hospital on highest possible escalation level
The Royal Hobart Hospital is at escalation level four, with the emergency department at capacity and elective surgeries being cancelled as it buckles under surging demand. FULL REPORT >>
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THE ROYAL Hobart Hospital is at escalation level four, with the emergency department at capacity and elective surgeries being cancelled.
A Health Department spokesman confirmed the hospital was at its highest level of a four-stage scale.
The Mercury understands the hospital has been at level four more or less continually for the last month.
Further detail was not available but previous level four escalations have been described as “potentially catastrophic overload” accompanied by “increased risk of dying”.
Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the number of people needing help was increasing.
“The Royal Hobart Hospital has seen a surge in demand, and escalation protocols are in place as a normal way for hospitals to manage periods of higher demand – they allow increased resources to be deployed, and in all situations normal triage protocols apply.”
Independent candidate for Clark Sue Hickey on Tuesday called for a parliamentary inquiry into what she described as the chronic underfunding of the state’s health system.
“This is a scandal of epic proportions and must be investigated by a full judicial or parliamentary inquiry,” she said. “It cannot be allowed to continue any longer.
“Tasmania has the oldest, sickest and poorest population, so it needs more money per capita to be spent on publicly funded health care and hospitals and this is provided via the GST arrangements.
“But over the past seven years, the Liberal Government has been diverting funds to its own pet projects and Tasmanians are suffering.”
“And now the Liberals are asking Tasmanians to re-elect them and give us the same failed Ministers to continue to misappropriate health funding and fail our health system.”
Independent health economist Martyn Goddard said the amount diverted from the health system was skyrocketing.
“Over four years from 2014-15, just over $2 billion in GST revenue granted to Tasmania to cope with its above-average needs for health services was diverted to other state government priorities,” he said.
“It is likely to reach $2.8 billion by the end of the 2021-22 financial year.”
Ms Courtney rejected the claims.
“Ms Hickey’s claims are categorically untrue. It is a matter of public record that Health spending has increased by $4 billion since we came to office in 2014. This is a 70 per cent increase.”
Greens health spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said underfunding was the cause of the problems at the Royal.
“Tasmania’s hospitals are in crisis. The Liberals’ underinvestment in hospitals puts people’s health at risk and is also taking a tremendous toll on hardworking staff,” she said.
“We can’t normalise having hospitals with ambulances ramped, and high-risk patients waiting in emergency for hours and hours to be seen.
“There are solutions, this is not too hard to fix, and it cannot continue.”
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