The Rockliff Liberal Government is investing record funding into Tasmania’s health system which includes a redeveloped and upgraded $13.8 million Endoscopy Unit which is now open to patients at the Royal Hobart Hospital.
Minister for Health, Guy Barnett said that the new Endoscopy Unit will enhance Tasmania’s ability to diagnose, prevent and treat a range of gastrointestinal conditions, including bowel cancer which is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for people in the State.
“This state-of-the-art facility was a two-stage construction project over 19 months and will boost the number of endoscopies – including colonoscopies and gastroscopies – carried out each year by up to 25 per cent, making the procedures available to more Tasmanians than ever,” Minister Barnett said.
“Located on Level 4 of A-Block, the new Endoscopy Unit includes admissions and waiting areas, pre-procedure bays, four endoscopy procedure rooms, a recovery area and a totally new Reprocessing Room for cleaning of specialist endoscopy equipment.
“The four new procedure rooms contain contemporary digital operating theatre equipment that is connected into the larger operating theatre network across K Block, providing a greater level of integration with services and assisting in the movement of patients.”
Minister Barnett said the redevelopment was part of the Rockliff Liberal Government’s plan to provide world-class health infrastructure that patients and hard-working clinicians deserve.
“This $13.8 million investment is part of our plan to redevelop the Royal Hobart Hospital and build new and upgraded health infrastructure that will meet the needs of current and future generations of Tasmanians.
“By expanding capacity and delivering these facilities, this redevelopment equips our dedicated doctors and nurses with the resources to continue driving down the waiting list for endoscopies and improve access to these critical procedures.
“Since coming to Government, we have employed an additional 2300 health workers and are delivering more health services. Today’s event is a further demonstration of our commitment to building better health services and facilities for our clinicians and patients,” Minister Barnett said.
The new Endoscopy Unit supports the Tasmanian Government’s $38 million Statewide Endoscopy Services Four-Year Plan 2023-2027 released earlier this year, which aims to deliver 22,000 additional endoscopies over the next four years and drive down the waiting list, meaning more people receive medical attention sooner.
It builds on the success of the Statewide Elective Surgery Four-Year Plan 2021-2025, which has already reduced the endoscopy waiting list by delivering more than 23,500 endoscopies between July 2021 to June 2023.
