Instead, the state government's revamp of what services are provided where has the potential to reset health expectations in the state.

And that's largely what Health Minister Michael Ferguson is working to overcome - the expectation that Tasmanians want all services at all sites.

It's a peculiarly Tasmanian trait that we expect local hospitals (and schools) to provide all services regardless of the cost of duplication.

A white paper on the issue has re-examined what services can and should be provided at the state's four hospitals.

The Launceston General Hospital will become the main referral hospital for the North and North-West.

It will house an integrated cancer service and deliver a broader range of services.

The Royal Hobart Hospital will remain the principal referral hospital in the South, provide some tertiary services for the entire state and take more trauma patients.

The North-West Regional Hospital in Burnie will lose complicated operations but have upgraded palliative, rehabilitative and geriatric care.

The Mersey Community Hospital at Latrobe will become a dedicated day surgery centre.

The downgrading of the Mersey, which is 91 kilometres from the LGH and only 58 kilometres from Burnie's bigger hospital, has been talked about for years.

Something similar was tried by the Labor state government when Lara Giddings was health minister in 2007.

However, Braddon, the electorate the hospital is in, had a federal Liberal MHR on a slim margin.

Then Prime Minister John Howard, perhaps sensing another area he could have a win against state Labor like he did with the forestry debate in 2004, flew in and took over the site.

It did not save the seat of the Braddon MHR or his Bass colleague who happened to be Mr Ferguson.

Political fixes do not often produce sound practical outcomes and Mr Ferguson will know that.

How he manages this overhaul will be fundamental in putting the state's hospitals on a sustainable footing.