Launceston public health forum with Health Minister Michael Ferguson

Hosted by Health Minister Michael Ferguson and Department of Health secretary Michael Pervan, about 40 people attended the fifth annual forum, held at the Tramshed Function Centre. 

Mr Ferguson said the forum was an important way for the government to stay accountable to its community, and encouraged an open dialogue for criticisms and compliments. 

“We are all in this together and I hope you agree with me, that we can all contribute to a better health system, and actually we must,” he said. 

“But let’s be honest, because we know that not everything is rosy in our health system and I never say it is.”

Looking back to 2014, Mr Ferguson acknowledged long surgery wait lists; regional divisions and duplication; and deficiencies in governance, clinical and consumer engagement, culture and efficiency as some of the most pressing issues facing the health system. 

Mr Ferguson also shared insights of the government’s six year plan for health in the North. 

It included finishing the $87 million LGH redevelopment; the addition of an estimated 150 new staff; progressing the LGH co-location; and a $50 million dedicated aeromedical service. 

After initial presentations, Mr Ferguson opened the floor for questions. 

West Tamar councillor Peter Kearney was one of the first to commence the discussion portion of the forum, asking about the role of country hospitals, such as Beaconsfield. 

Mr Ferguson said the government would honour its promise not to close any of the state’s hospitals, but was looking at how to better use them. 

“As ever, the mission is to make sure that we are support our doctors and nurses in those sites, so that they can handpick patients who are appropriate, to be cared for at a place like Beaconsfield, or a larger sub-acute hospital like George Town or Deloraine, or Campbell Town, Scottsdale or St Helens,” Mr Ferguson said. 

“We want to use them more, particularly when we see days where the LGH is at capacity or overcrowded.”

Australian Medical Association Northern Tasmania chairperson Glenn Richardson described the “tsunami” of ageing and chronic illness in the community and criticised the government’s spending on health. 

“We have in Tasmania an older, poorer, sicker population who need more health care that other states, but we get 15 per cent less in the public system on average compared to the Australian average,” Mr Richardson said. 

“Our public hospitals treat the lowest numbers of any state and often, they are treating the most complex patients and don't have time to get to anybody else.”

Mr Richardson cited a recent report by health policy analyst Martyn Goddard, which claimed the state government had diverted $1.6 billion in health-related GST payments away from health.

However, Mr Ferguson rejected the credibility of the report and said he was disappointed that Mr Richardson didn’t have anything positive to say about the government’s progress.

“Faithfully, we are the second highest spender of our total available budget on health,” Mr Ferguson said. 

“People can say what they like to in the political or other dialogue, but we are putting a lot of extra money into health. 

“The shortcoming we face right now is not dollars, it is physical spaces to put people and we are building those.”

One woman asked what the government was doing to ensure all Tasmanian’s had the same access to health services, regardless of where they lived. 

Mr Ferguson said while Tasmania enjoyed an extensive coverage of hospitals across the state, the challenge remained ensuring best and safe practice.

“We are so spread out, yet you do need a good concentration of services to ensure they are safe,” he said.

“We need to change the idea of just having services everywhere, to having better and stronger services.”

On the topic of preventive health, Mr Ferguson was asked what was being done at a government level to prevent the need for further expansion of services. 

Mr Ferguson said the government would always do more to help empower the community to make better choices about healthy living. 

“It is better if it is not just government, but government working in partnership with community,” he said.

“We are willing to be innovative in this field and this is one of those rare occasions where the government says – ‘we don't have all the answers’.”