HEALTH Minister Michael Ferguson says the hospital system is failing patients, causing unnecessary deaths and must be reformed in the current term of Parliament. Mr Ferguson has warned of difficult and unpopular decisions about the movement of health services, but has pledged not to close any hospitals. He said all changes as part of the government’s health white paper would be motivated by getting better outcomes for Tasmanian patients. ‘‘We could avoid this if we wanted to, we could go through our four-year opportunity and not fix the problem, but that’d be failing our responsibility,’’ Mr Ferguson told The Examiner. ‘‘It is urgent, because we know of people dying and these reforms are about saving lives and about having less adverse outcomes. ‘‘So long as we know that we’re not providing safe care, then we have a moral burden to address it.’’ Mr Ferguson said Tasmanian hospitals would provide different kinds of health services once the state’s three health bodies were merged later this year. ‘‘Some people will have difficulty with some of the decisions that have been proposed, but in all cases I am willing to defend them,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re not going to close hospitals, but we need to give them a clear role in the health system.’’ He said the Mersey Hospital, federally owned and funded, would continue to play a role. Mr Ferguson said the solution was not about saving the government money. ‘‘Money itself is not the answer, sometimes it can delay a problem being solved,’’ he said. Labor health spokeswoman Rebecca White said the reforms were long overdue. ‘‘It’s not new for this government to say that we’re looking at health in Tasmania, it was always going to happen,’’ Ms White said. ‘‘However, there needs to be appropriate consultation with the Tasmanian public about the services they want and where they want them.’’ A white paper on health reform is due to be released before the end of March.
HEALTH Minister Michael Ferguson says the hospital system is failing patients, causing unnecessary deaths and must be reformed in the current term of Parliament.
Mr Ferguson has warned of difficult and unpopular decisions about the movement of health services, but has pledged not to close any hospitals.
He said all changes as part of the government’s health white paper would be motivated by getting better outcomes for Tasmanian patients.
‘‘We could avoid this if we wanted to, we could go through our four-year opportunity and not fix the problem, but that’d be failing our responsibility,’’ Mr Ferguson told The Examiner.
‘‘It is urgent, because we know of people dying and these reforms are about saving lives and about having less adverse outcomes.
‘‘So long as we know that we’re not providing safe care, then we have a moral burden to address it.’’
Mr Ferguson said Tasmanian hospitals would provide different kinds of health services once the state’s three health bodies were merged later this year.
‘‘Some people will have difficulty with some of the decisions that have been proposed, but in all cases I am willing to defend them,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re not going to close hospitals, but we need to give them a clear role in the health system.’’
He said the Mersey Hospital, federally owned and funded, would continue to play a role.
Mr Ferguson said the solution was not about saving the government money. ‘‘Money itself is not the answer, sometimes it can delay a problem being solved,’’ he said.
Labor health spokeswoman Rebecca White said the reforms were long overdue.
‘‘It’s not new for this government to say that we’re looking at health in Tasmania, it was always going to happen,’’ Ms White said.
‘‘However, there needs to be appropriate consultation with the Tasmanian public about the services they want and where they want them.’’
A white paper on health reform is due to be released before the end of March.
