Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Health
The Tasmanian Liberal Government remains committed to recruiting and retaining health staff across our State to ensure that all Tasmanians can get the right care, at the right time.
That’s why this week, our Government has approved an increase in the medical staffing in the Emergency Department (ED) at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) of at least 15 per cent.
Recent data analysis has identified that the RHH is currently on track to receive 75,000 presentations in 2021, which is at the top end of its current medical staffing ratios, and this increase will meet the Australian College of Emergency Medicine Guidelines for presentations to the ED of between 75,000 and 90,000 per year.
This will deliver an additional 10.5 full time equivalent doctors in the RHH ED and includes the recruitment of Emergency Specialists, Registrars and Resident Medical Officers.
It will also expand our capacity to manage future increasing demand and comes on top of recruitment work that is already underway to coincide with our annual medical recruitment campaign.
Our recruitment efforts to date have been very positive. Between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, we saw an increase of 655 paid FTE across the health system.
Like all States and Territories across the nation, Tasmania has experienced increased demand on our emergency departments with 170,645 presentations over the course of 2020-21.
To manage this demand, the Government has opened more beds, and we are continuing to increase available beds in our health system with a total of 152 new beds coming into our public health system.
We acknowledge that emergency departments right across Tasmania have been experiencing high demand, however demand has been particularly challenging for the RHH.
We have been working closely with clinicians at the RHH to look at all options for responding to the significant demand we are experiencing during COVID-19, particularly in 2021.
This increase in medical staffing will help to manage demand in our ED at the RHH and help improve patients being seen on time.
Importantly, it will also help to take pressure off our staff.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government will continue to deliver on our plan to support new and boosted health services across Tasmania, including recruitment already underway for an additional 280 FTE health staff and the roll-out of our elective surgery program, to ensure Tasmanians receive the right care, in the right place at the right time.
