The West Coast Council continues to advocate for better health and aged care on the West Coast. Despite producing the majority of the State’s exports, West Coasters don’t have sufficient aged care or health care, with many suffering at home or being forced to move away. The State Government’s own ‘Our Healthcare Future’ report, highlighted the need for more investment in District Hospitals and we agree, but we are not getting the action we need.
Three years ago, your Council secured a $1 million grant from the Federal Government to the State Government, but we are yet to see them deliver and we know that the plan is to deliver an improved emergency facility which we appreciate, but only one additional aged care bed with that money. It is not enough, currently 8 west coasters are on the waiting list, and more are at home in urgent need of respite care. There is a plan to deliver more aged care, but it needs additional funding to be delivered.
We need the help of West Coasters to ensure that both the Federal and State Governments are aware that our community demands better health and aged care, that it is not ok for west coasters to have to move away from family and loved ones because the facilities and services here are not sufficient. All we want is equality on access to services with other Tasmanians.
Please contact your State and Federal politicians, including the Premier and the Minister for Health and let them know you demand a fair go for the West Coast given how much we do for the Tasmanian economy.
What the West Coast Council is Asking For:
- Funding to increase the number of aged care beds offered by the West Coast district hospital by at least 5 as soon as possible to deal with the urgent unmet need in our community.
- Significant funding to improve acute medical facilities on the West Coast.
- Trials of innovative approaches to health care provision in remote areas like the West Coast including the use of: Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Paramedics supporting Primary Health, enhanced telehealth, and Allied Health students.
- Placed based approaches to improving the attraction and retention of health professionals, including significant investment in housing and the combining service delivery, training, and research opportunities to increase the attractiveness of remote localities.
- Provision of health and aged care navigation support, including social workers and community health workers, based on the West Coast, for those of us in remote communities arranging access to health services that are often hours away is difficult and more support is needed. People should not need to make multiple calls or visit multiple locations to navigate the system, we need a single point of contact to support people.
- Preventative health programs specifically designed for remote areas to address the inequality in health outcomes between places such as the West Coast and urban centres.
Shane Pitt
MAYOR
