A senior cardiologist at Charles Clinic Health Care, Dr Hasking made the move from Queensland about 18 months ago, with wife Julia expected to join him permanently next year. 

Specialising in ultrasound echocardiography and heart failure, Dr Hasking has joined a team of cardiologists dealing with one of the state’s most challenging health problems. 

According to the Heart Foundation, Tasmania’s rate of death from heart disease is second only to the Northern Territory, with about 85 heart disease-related deaths per 100,000 people, compared with the overall national rate of 76.

While relatively unfamiliar with the state’s health outcomes prior to moving here, Dr Hasking said he had been shocked by what he found. 

“It did surprise me. The level of heart disease in Tasmania is comparable to the Northern Territory, which has a high proportion of Indigenous populations, which generally speaking tends to have lower outcomes,” he said. 

“But Tasmania and particularly the North and North-West has comparably bad outcomes. There are higher overall incidents of disease than I expected to see in the practice. 

“It is fairly widespread, but most of its coronary disease related – so with onset from the 50s and on. But we do see a surprising number of younger people with coronary disease and women.”

Dr Hasking completed his bachelor of medicine at the University of Sydney in 1975.

Since then he has fulfilled a diverse range of roles including senior lecturer in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Queensland, the director of the heart failure and transplant unit at Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital and acting director of cardiac services at Townsville Hospital. 

Dr Hasking said the decision to move to Tasmania was based on his career and the opportunity to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle. 

Because when he is not treating patients, he can usually be found on his beloved quarter horse Pinky.

“Moving to Tasmania I did see it as a career opportunity,” he said. 

“And it was also a place where both of us thought we could have the life we like. 

“We have horses, so the ability to have somewhere to keep them still within striking distance of town was very important.”

Mrs Hasking joked that her husband’s horse was the other woman in his life, but said it was very important to have a work-life balance. 

“He works hard, but he is just as happy out in the paddock with his horses,” she said. 

“We are looking forward to enjoying the relaxed lifestyle here in Tasmania.”

Having worked in both and acknowledging the challenges facing Tasmania’s health outcomes, Dr Hasking said he would like to see a closer partnership established between the public and private sectors. 

“The heart failure front is a work in progress,” he said. 

“It is a complex area, typically with quite sick patients and the best results come in units that are multi-disciplined. 

“So ideally, you would have a cardiologist involved, a nurse or a nurse practitioner, and the ability to draw on pharmacy and physio – that sort of thing. 

“The best units comprise all of that and some sort of domiciliary care. 

“Typically they’ve been in large public hospitals, but we are working at trying to set something up here and finding a way to make it affordable for the patients.

“One of the issues is that we can’t continue care because we don’t work also in the public hospitals. So it often back and forth between people. 

“I would really like there to be a close partnership and interaction between colleagues in the public and private systems, which I think because everyone has been busy, hasn’t traditionally been the case.”

As for preventative measures, Dr Hasking said finding solutions to the “culture” of poor health in Tasmania would take time and commitment. 

“It comes down to resources and forming links and interactions, but the ultimate answer is prevention,” he said.

“I think that younger generations are more switched on than mine, although there is a distressing tendency for you women to smoke. 

“You walk around town and it's quite shocking, the number of people smoking. 

“You wouldn’t see that in many towns of comparable size. 

“It can be cultural. Not always, but generally grandparents who smoke generate parents who smoke and it becomes the normal behaviour. We need to break that cycle.”