Health Minister Michael Ferguson says petition calling for him to be replaced is nothing but a stunt

TWO southern Tasmanians with first-hand experiences of the state’s health system have joined Labor’s calls for Health Minister Michael Ferguson to be replaced.

State Opposition health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell, centre, with hospital patient Brent Gray, left, and Katie Gray, whose brother was recently a patient at the Royal Hobart Hospital, launching a petition calling for Health Minister Michael Ferguson to be replaced. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

UPDATED: TWO southern Tasmanians with first-hand experiences of the state’s health system have joined Labor’s calls for Health Minister Michael Ferguson to be replaced.

Opposition health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell today launched a petition calling on Premier Will Hodgman to sack Mr Ferguson and replace him with “someone who cares”.

Mr Ferguson said the petition was a stunt and the State Government would “continue to consult and listen to Tasmanians, which we have done actively for the past four years”.

Ms Lovell said the petition was “in response to the daily calls and visits we get to our offices from members of the public who are at their wit’s end”.

“[Mr Ferguson] has ignored professionals, he has ignored members of the community, he has shown absolutely no interest in hearing what they have to say,” she said.

“It’s pretty extraordinary that it’s got to the point now where doctors are speaking up in press conferences, nurses are protesting on the street everyday [in Launceston] … It’s time for a new health minister and perhaps host a health summit or crisis talks, to take a step back and look at what really needs to happen.”

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Mental health patient Brent Gray said that following a suicide attempt in February, he spent eight nights in the Royal Hobart Hospital’s emergency department.

He said although the doctors and nurses were “amazing” and were doing everything they could, the emergency department was not an appropriate place for mental health patients.

“You’ve got people screaming, you’ve got police in there, you’ve got poor children in there with their families,” he said.

Mr Gray said the experience made his mental health worse.

“I just went from really, really bad to extremely bad,” he said.

He attempted to take his own life again three weeks ago and spent another three days in the hospital’s emergency department, and said the experience again made his health worse.

Mr Gray is now being treated at a private hospital. He said he wrote to Mr Ferguson four weeks ago but had not received a response.

“Someone has to listen, the Premier needs to listen to us and someone needs to take it seriously,” he said.

Katie Gray, no relation to Brent Gray, spoke out last week about her brother’s experience as a mental health patient at the hospital.

She said her brother was “shown the door and given a bus ticket” when he left the hospital.

“I couldn’t understand that this is how the health system works,” she said.

“The staff are lovely, they are doing everything they can.”

Since sharing her brother’s story, Ms Gray said many people had contacted her with their own experiences of the health system.

Mr Ferguson said the Government was funding more staff and more beds.

“Our last budget included $1.7 billion more for health than Labor’s last budget, we’ve opened 120 new beds and we are building, opening and staffing almost 300 more beds over coming years,” he said.

“We have added more than 600 additional frontline staff in our health system, including hundreds of new nurses.”

Mr Ferguson also said Labor had ignored Tasmanians for more than a decade.

For 24/7 crisis support, contact Lifeline on 131 114 or at www.lifeline.org.au, or Mens-Line Australia on 1300 789 978 or at www.mensline.org.au.