Sarah Courtney,Minister for Health
The Tasmanian Government has a Plan to rebuild a stronger Tasmania and we are committed to building a better health system, supporting staff, driving better care and delivering the best possible outcomes for patients.
The 2020-21 State Budget includes a record $9.8 billion in health spending over the next four years – a 21 per cent increase, with $1.7 billion more than last year’s Budget.
There has been significant growth of staffing in the THS that is supported with this funding.
Between coming to Government in March 2014 and June this year, there are now more than 1500 FTE of additional staff in our health system, including:
- 161 FTE allied health professionals
- 830 FTE nurses
- 223 FTE doctors
This is unprecedented resourcing for our system, delivering record staffing levels, opening beds, and investing in the facilities our patients and staff deserve.
There has also been an increase in Ambulance Tasmania staffing of more than 170 additional FTE.
This is a 55 per cent increase in staffing for Ambulance Tasmania when compared with March 2014, meaning more paramedics and more dispatch officers to respond to Tasmanians.
To be clear, all of these staffing figures are over and above our existing workforce, not simply recruitment numbers.
We are backing this workforce with our record $9.8 billion health Budget which includes $6.2 billion for employee entitlements, including $1.5 billion this year alone.
This Government is frontline focused, and we are also delivering more permanency for our staff.
In the last year alone, the Department of Health Annual Report shows there have been an increase of more than 600 FTE of permanent positions across our health services.
This is a six per cent increase in permanent positions within just 12 months, and means that around 75 per cent of our workforce now in permanent positions either full-time or part-time.
This comes on the back of a concerted effort by our health service to deliver more security for our workforce, including a specific provision in the latest nursing EBA to provide a pathway to permanency for longer term casual nurses.
This Government will continue to invest in building a better health system.
