The state government has announced it will commit $20 million to Launceston’s John L Grove rehabilitation centre.
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In their first major 2017-18 budget announcement, Premier Will Hodgman and Health Minister Michael Ferguson pledged the funds on Thursday.
It will be distributed over a four-year period, with $5 million of state money a year funding the specialist rehabilitation facility.
“With the budget back on track, we are able to invest in these important services and as we foreshadowed in 2015, we can now welcome John L Grove back into our statewide health system,” Mr Ferguson said.
John L Grove is a 20-bed slow-to-recover rehabilitation unit, which is part of the Launceston General Hospital.
It operates separate from the hospital, with a professional multi-disciplinary team providing low-to-medium density therapy, aimed at increasing the functional capacity of clients.
The service helps clients return to normal life, with the average patient staying a little longer than one month.
“Fixing the health system is a priority for this government and we are getting on with the job by securing long-term certainty for health services in Launceston, securing 70 jobs and securing long-stay rehabilitation for the 420 clients they’ve seen over the past two-and-a-half years, predominantly from Northern Tasmania and the East Coast.
“The staff at the centre is made up of a dedicated team of 32 nurses, nine allied health, a specialist geriatrician and medical registrar, and other hospital support workers, along with pharmacy support.”
The future of the centre had been uncertain until the federal government committed $10 million in funding for two years in 2015.
“And now with this $20 million commitment in our up-coming budget, we are providing the certainty staff and patients of John L Grove wanted.
“Health is a priority for the Hodgman Government and this is just another example of securing future certainty for an important health facility, as we did with the Mersey Community Hospital for residents of the North-West, just over three weeks ago.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced earlier this month that the Mersey hospital would return to state hands, along with $730 million of federal money to cover the next 10 years, during a visit to Latrobe.
