Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1)notes that:

(a)the Tasmanian public health system is fundamentally broken and that is directly resulting in prolonged illnesses and avoidable deaths;

(b)this dire situation is despite the Tasmanian health system receiving more funding from the Commonwealth Government than the national average;

(c)independent Tasmanian public policy analyst Martyn Goddard estimates that, since the Tasmanian Government came to power in 2014, health and hospitals have been short-changed by $2 billion of GST money being diverted from Tasmania’s public health system;

(d)Tasmanian hospitals are the worst-performing in the country, despite heroic efforts from staff;

(e)the latest state government figures show that 11,342 people are waiting for elective surgery—the most urgent category one patients, who should be treated in 30 days, have to wait an average of 130 days for their procedure;

(f)mental health services are another significant area of chronic under-investment, resulting in poorly treated and untreated illnesses causing great suffering and sometimes suicides; and

(g)there is precedence for the Commonwealth Government to intervene in the Tasmanian health system, for instance the take-over and hand-back of the Mersey Hospital; and

(2)calls on the Commonwealth Government to refer Tasmania’s failing health system to the Productivity Commission to:

(a)conduct a public inquiry to identify the root causes of Tasmania’s failing health system; and

(b)formulate a solution to fix the systemic and cultural problems within the Tasmanian health system.

Regrettably, there is an urgent need for federal intervention in Tasmania's ailing public health system and, in particular, there's an urgent need for the federal government to direct the federal Productivity Commission to do a review of Tasmania's public health system and to help Tasmania by laying out a blueprint for reform. That's not to say that a string of Tasmanian governments haven't conducted audit inquiries, spent money, put bandaids on or done different things to try to fix Tasmania's public health system, but regrettably none of it has worked. Indeed, it has now become commonplace for emergency department doctors and nurses at the Royal Hobart Hospital to warn how bed block and the ramping of ambulances is disrupting quality health care and even resulting in unnecessary deaths. To illustrate this point: last fiscal year in Tasmania over 1,800 patients waited over 24 hours just to be seen in the emergency department. No wonder the AMA is also cautioning about this situation. The AMA notes that waiting lists for elective surgery at the Royal Hobart Hospital are now the worst in over 20 years.

We don't need to go to organisations like that to get a sense of things; we could just look at the state government's own figures. Indeed, by the state government's latest figures there are 11,342 patients on the elective surgery waiting list. That's out of a total population of only half a million people for the whole state; 11,342 Tasmanians on the elective surgery waiting list. Remarkably, those who are on the category 1 waiting list are waiting, on average, 130 days for their surgery, when the clinically recommended waiting time is to be no more than 30 days.

They're numbers, but remember that behind all these numbers are human stories. For example, the elderly man, a constituent of mine, who's been waiting for hip surgery for ages and is in so much pain and is so disabled that he needs to call on his neighbours to change his socks. There's nothing elective about that. It's a human tragedy. Or, just last week, the mother of four who contacted my office when, a day before she was scheduled for urgent colon surgery, her surgery was cancelled. This woman can't work, she's in extreme pain, she suffers embarrassing bowel movements and her surgery was cancelled last week, and the state government thinks that's okay.

Mental health is especially problematic. I could give you some shocking demonstrations of just how bad things are, like the man who cut off his finger to ensure he would be admitted to the Royal Hobart Hospital to get the mental health care he was calling out for. Or the example of a man found dead in the bushes outside the Royal Hobart Hospital not that long ago, who had twice been turned away from the hospital when he was desperately calling out for mental health treatment.

The government says it's on the job and all's well, and to his credit last week the Premier did announce $45 million to boost elective surgery. Frankly, it's a bandaid when the public health system has such systemic structural and funding problems. That's why today I'm calling again—I've done it before unsuccessfully—for federal intervention, not to disrupt the Tasmanian public health system but to help the Tasmanian public health system, to get an independent body like the Productivity Commission to go in with all its know-how. It's not unprecedented for federal intervention in Tasmania—for example, Prime Minister Gillard agreed to my request for a $325 million funding boost. And we've had the episode of hospitals being taken over, handed back and all sorts of things. We need the Productivity Commission to step in.

I'll take this opportunity again to call for the closure of one of Tasmania's three northern hospitals. We have three hospitals in the north and one hospital in the south. Three hospitals for half of the population and one hospital for the other half of the population. We have too many hospitals and they are underfunded. I call again on the Tasmanian government to shut one of the three northern hospitals, which would leave three well-funded hospitals instead of four underfunded hospitals. We've got to stop the bandaids. The Tasmanian government has got to look to the feds for help. The community has got to understand that we've got to stop putting bandaids on the public health system. We got to fix it. Until we fix it, people will continue to suffer unnecessarily; people will continue to die unnecessarily.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do we have a seconder for the motion?

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Seniors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly won't rise and say that all is well in the Tasmanian health system. There are deeply complex issues within our state health system. As the member for Clark has identified, we have a small population, a geographically dispersed population, that is ageing and has high rates of chronic disease. I have spent much of my time, since being elected, fighting for better health outcomes for the northern Tasmanian region, and, in particular, access to GP services.

There are significant challenges, but there are many people dedicated to improvement, and some positive progress has been made. Just a few days ago, as was mentioned, the state government, led by Minister for Health Sarah Courtney, announced a boost to the state's elective surgery capacity in the state's budget, helping more Tasmanians to receive that surgery quicker. A $45½ million investment will be made in elective surgeries over the next 18 months, delivering more surgery for more Tasmanians, which will reduce waiting times, bring down the waiting list and drive better outcomes for patients. The new funding, together with the previously announced $15 million provided through the Commonwealth, means the health service will deliver an estimated 8½ thousand additional elective surgeries for the Tasmanian community. This is a huge boost to surgery capacity, with an estimated 19,000 surgeries now planned for the 2020-21 financial year.

For the Launceston General Hospital, located in the heart of my northern Tasmanian community, the state has delivered 542 additional FTE staff since coming to government in March 2014, which is a 30 per cent increase. This includes more than 270 nurses, 48 new full-time allied health professionals and 90 additional doctors. Significant progress has also been made on the $20 million Ward 4K redevelopment at the LGH, with stage 1 almost completed and stage 2 underway. Importantly, stage 1 includes two negative-pressure rooms that have airlocks and ensuites, allowing patients to isolate; the hospital's first ever bariatric room for adolescents; a new adolescent lounge area; and a contemporary schoolroom to support learning by patients across primary and secondary age ranges.

It has been a highlight for me this year to work with the state government to deliver the $6.3 million for a new LINAC and CT scanner at the LGH. The new scanner, at the WP Holman Clinic, will provide clinicians with new equipment to help design the best and most precise treatment plans, improving patient outcomes. This new scanner will help to provide treatment for over 600 new patients every year. It's the first piece of equipment delivered through the state and federal governments Radiation Oncology Health Program Grants, and $28 million is being invested to upgrade the state's ageing oncology equipment.

I note the member for Clark's reference to chronic underinvestment in mental health services, and I think there is a lot of catch-up to do in that space. I've spoken here, and in the House, a number of times on mental health and access to increased mental health services as they're of particular interest to me. There has been a lot of work done in this area, and there have been some advances made. A $10 million investment for an adult mental health hub in Launceston is a commitment I secured during the last election, and is something that I'm really passionate about. It will ensure the delivery of much needed services in our local area to try to fill some of those gaps. Progress is being made on that, and I firmly believe it will make a demonstrable difference in our region. I hope it will take the pressure off the hospital system, particularly the emergency department.

Over the last decade, the federal government has provided significant funding for headspace in Launceston to assist with the facilities and staff needed to meet that ever increasing demand for mental health services, and I appreciate the government's willingness to listen to the needs on the ground in my electorate and to respond accordingly. Last year we committed $630,000 to headspace Launceston to meet the growing demand from young people through the provision of extra clinical services such as structured psychological interventions, group interventions, family counselling and intervention clinics. That funding specifically allowed for an additional clinical psychologist and a project officer, which are much needed roles in that organisation.

Unfortunately, five minutes is not enough time to address this issue in detail, but I did want to take a moment, in wrapping up, to commend the dedicated health professionals in northern Tasmania, and Tasmania generally, who have gone over and above this year in what has been a very difficult year.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Seniors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know that my time is going to be very limited here, but I do want to say a big thankyou to all those people working in the Tasmanian health system. Unfortunately it is the incredible staff in the system that are holding the system together. There are clearly significant structural issues in the Tasmanian health system. What we just heard from the member for Bass, with all due respect, was a list of more bandaids, not the structural reform that's needed. The Tasmanian Liberal government need to take responsibility and they need to do the structural reform required in the Tasmanian health system to ensure that all Tasmanians get access to the health services they need, when they need them. What we know is happening at the moment is that people are waiting inordinate amounts of time. They are getting worse. They are getting more and more and unhealthy for the amount of time they have to wait, whether it be for physical health issues or, particularly, mental health issues. The number of people who contact my office concerned about their children or grandchildren who cannot get mental health support in Tasmania is incredible. To wait in an emergency department for three days when you have suicidal ideation is completely unacceptable. Whatever the Tasmanian state government and the federal Liberal government are doing is clearly not working and is nowhere near enough. That is the bottom line.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I apologise for having to interrupt the member for Franklin. You will be given leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed. Unfortunately the time allocated for this debate has expired.