A former health minister once described the portfolio as a poisoned chalice. Yes, it’s one of the most senior in any ministry, but it also comes with plenty of baggage.
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It seems no matter how much funding you pour into health, it’s never enough. Ever.
The state government’s announcement this week of more funding for each of the three major hospitals – the Royal Hobart, the Launceston General and the North-West Regional – is certainly welcome.
Regardless of where you live in this state, you should be entitled to receive healthcare in a timely manner. These announcements will certainly help alleviate some of the wait times for patients.
For Northern Tasmanians, the 15 permanent beds at the Launceston General Hospital is long overdue.
As part of the package, 12 beds in Ward 4D will be kept permanently open, with funding to build three new single rooms. Currently, those initial 12 beds were opened on a temporary basis and were only funded accordingly.
The cost of $880,000 this financial year alone for the LGH package is pittance compared with the the positive impact on patients, particularly with the state government announcing a week ago it had an extra $150 million boost to its bottom line thanks, mainly, to the state’s booming property market.
This, on top of extra GST funding from the Commonwealth, means the state certainly has plenty of excess funds to splash around – if it so desires.
An increase in spending in health would certainly qualify as necessary spending.
Perhaps it’s time for the government to look at ways of reducing our growing elective surgery waiting lists, which continue to grow despite millions of dollars in extra funding committed to alleviate people’s waiting time.
According to a report by the Australian Medical Association released in February, Tasmania’s hospitals did not meet any of the six key measures listed, including elective surgery performance indicators.
The report stated that elective surgery median waiting times increased from 55 days in 2014-15 to 72 days in 2015-16.
Health Minister Michael Ferguson said that clearing the longest waiting backlog could only be achieved by accepting a temporary increase in median wait times.
Increasing the state’s overall surgical capacity would surely help.
