Leaked email reveals new Royal Hobart Hospital ED won’t meed current or future needs

A $130m upgrade to the Royal Hobart Hospital’s emergency department is not fit for purpose and won’t meet current or future needs because of budget cutbacks, senior staff say.

A patient transport ambulance outside the Royal Hobart Hospital. Picture: Linda Higginson

The state government appears to have dramatically scaled back plans to expand the Royal Hospital emergency department.

Senior RHH staff say the resulting upgrade to the Royal Hobart Hospital’s emergency department is not fit for purpose and won’t meet current or future needs.

The Department of Health says it currently has 82 points of care in the RHH emergency department, although it claimed 92 in a submission to parliament in November last year.

The RHH ED Expansion Phase 2 approved by the Public Works Committee in February was a $149m “state-of-the-art emergency department across two levels to providing a total of 121 points of care”.

But the proposed upgrade is now costed at $130m, will be on one level, and will deliver 113 treatment points instead.

Members of the emergency department’s management team have told staff in a leaked email that budget cutbacks might improve some service delivery — but the new proposed design falls well short of what is needed.

The Royal Hobart Hospital.

Plans for the upgrade were attached to the email noting the project’s “reduced scope”.

The RHH emergency department was designed for 45,000 annual presentations. It handled 75,258 in 2022/23 and demand is expected to reach 135,000 presentations by 2035.

In July, the Health Department denied budget cuts.

A Health Department spokesman denied the project was on hold.

“The current design plans for Stage 2 of the ED expansion will provide the facilities needed to meet future demand for emergency care in Southern Tasmania,” he said.

“Over the course of the project, the budget has increased from $50m to $130m.

“The first stage of ED redevelopment was delivered in early 2023, providing an additional 28 treatment points as promised.”

President of the AMA Tasmania branch, Dr Michael Lumsden-Steel said the ED redevelopment was the government worst decision about health infrastructure.

“We know the health department has been told there is no more money for the RHH ED redevelopment by the government, for which the Premier and Treasurer are responsible.

“The result of these cuts will be a sub-standard costly project that will deliver up to 25 fewer lie-down acute adult beds. These are the beds needed for a growing older and sicker population.

“We cannot go backwards. We need the extra $50 million now to deliver the original project.”

Labor’s Josh Willie said condemned the scaleback of the design.

“This is a massively broken promise from the Liberals in terms of fixing our health system, to scale back there emergency department redevelopment is absolutely devastating to those that work here and to patient care,” he said.

“It won’t meet current demand let alone future demand and we know that it’s not going to be a fit for purpose.”

Leaked email reveals hospital emergency department failure

August 23, 10am: A $130m upgrade to the Royal Hobart Hospital’s emergency department is not fit for purpose and won’t meet current or future needs because of budget cutbacks, senior staff say.

Members of the emergency department’s management team have told staff in a leaked email that budget cutbacks might improve some service delivery, but the final design falls short of what is needed.

“The government has directed the THS Executive to endorse a redesign of the existing ED footprint within the current budget,” the email says

“We openly acknowledge that this design isn’t fit for purpose to meet our current needs, let alone the future needs of the department.

“All of the risks associated with this design will be clearly documented and escalated through appropriate channels.

“We’re really disappointed with this outcome and recognise that this will be extremely frustrating and disappointing for you all.”

Plans for the upgrade were attached to the email noting the project’s “reduced scope”.

In July, the Health Department denied cutting $19m from a $149m budget for the upgrade.

“There is no reduction in the budget for the ED at the Royal Hobart Hospital,” Acting Department of Health Secretary Dale Webster said.

“The budget is $130m … I want to say very clearly, there have been no cuts to the budget.”

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works made $149m available for the

expansion in February.

Department of Health Deputy Secretary Infrastructure Services Andrew Hargrave told the committee the $149m price tag was value for money and in line with current market expectations.

Greens Health spokeswoman Cecily Rosol said building an adequate emergency department was more important than building a stadium.

“It’s so important our hospitals get the investment they need to make sure our community is looked after properly now and in the future,” she said.

“After neglecting our health system for a decade, the Liberals recently reached a new low with their ‘vacancy control’ cuts to staffing.

“But they’ve already outdone themselves by essentially trashing the critical project to upgrade the Royal Hobart Hospital’s emergency department.

“How can this government continue to push ahead with building a billion-dollar stadium we don’t need while making massive cuts to health infrastructure we just can’t do without?

“If we’re really serious about the health of Tasmanians, we need spending on health to be a top priority. Under the Liberals, that’s not the case.”