Launceston General Hospital has three months to improve 10 areas as its accreditation is reviewed.
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Accreditation of the state’s hospitals was a hot topic during the Legislative Council budget estimates committee hearing on Tuesday.
Health Minister Micheal Ferguson said the the process for accreditation at the LGH would resume in September.
“I have been advised there are 10 core areas where works are required and there will be time for the hospital to work on those,” he said.
The LGH underwent a survey, which is a requirement as part of the accreditation process in June.
Results of that process had been positive, Mr Ferguson said.
The LGH passed 199 out of 209 areas, which left 10 areas remaining to be ticked off.
Opposition Health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell grilled Mr Ferguson on the accreditation process, but he would not be drawn into speculation.
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“What happens if at that review [in September] the hospital doesn’t address those areas,” she asked?
“I will not going into that hypothetical with you, we would work through that process if that happened,” Mr Ferguson said.
The Launceston General Hospital lost its accreditation for physician training in January 2017.
It also lost its emergency department accreditation in March 2018 due to not meeting the requirements.
However, discussion centred on general accreditation through the Australian Health Service Safety and Quality Accreditation Scheme.
Mr Ferguson said the LGH had not had its general accreditation for the past five years, which exceeded his tenure as Health Minister.
The Royal Hobart Hospital is due for revision in August and the North-West Regional Hospital is accredited until 2020.
Mersey MLC Mike Gaffney asked Mr Ferguson if any of the outstanding 10 areas at the LGH were reliant on extra funding, to which Mr Ferguson said “no”.
“I can assure you it’s not related to budget. It wouldn’t be simply an adjustment of more finances, and that is the missing link,” Mr Ferguson said.
“It’s more around best practice and process, or governance matters. It is things within the culture of how a clinician might be using best practice techniques and documenting that,” he said.
Mr Ferguson said the LGH had been working through the process of re-accreditation and so far, the feedback had been positive.
However, he said he would not elaborate on the areas that need addressing or the ones that were doing well until the final accreditation report was released.
”Until the final report it wouldn’t be prudent to be bragging off on the key areas where they got good commendation. It’s a positive picture and there are some areas of concern. I’m not glib about that. They need to be addressed and they will be.”