Health Minister Michael Ferguson has invited the Auditor-General and opposition parties to a hospital access solutions meeting next month a day after a damning independent report on the state's health system was released.
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The report largely occupied question time on Wednesday with claims from Labor and the Greens the system had become worse under the Liberals' leadership.
Labor repeatedly attempted to get Mr Ferguson to commit to addressing Auditor-General Rod Whitehead's 10 recommendations for improvements in the state's hospital emergency departments.
The recommendations include:
- finding initiatives to improve patient flow in hospitals;
- a review of root causes behind the growth of adverse events in emergency departments;
- increased accountability of performance of health system leadership teams;
- and stronger performance monitoring and reporting processes.
Labor leader Rebecca White said Mr Whitehead had stated hospital teams needed to be adequately resourced urgently.
"Sick people presenting at EDs are getting sicker and Tasmanians are dying avoidable deaths," she said.
Greens health spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said Mr Whitehead's report showed that the system was not just failing because of underfunding but poor leadership as well.
"Tasmanians are less safe in emergency departments now than when you took over as Health minister in 2014," she said.
Mr Ferguson said the Auditor-General had been invited to join next month's meeting to discuss solutions to problems within the health system.
The government welcomes what is something like a scholarly piece of work by the Auditor-General with constructive recommendations that can support decision-makers to work together to help provide a stronger and more accessible health system" he said.
"I hope the Labor Party will embrace the bipartisanship that I offer."
