Stakeholders weigh in on Tasmanian health summit amid 'negative' comments

Speaker Sue Hickey said the meeting exposed a lack of response to many recommendations made in previous investigative reports, likening the meeting to an episode of the ABC's Utopia.

"It was seven hours of a lot of talk, a lot of white boards and discussion sheets," she said.

"There was some agreement to follow up the discussion points and meet again in a month or so.

"I didn't hear anything that will make an immediate difference."

Ms Hickey said she was concerned there was almost no discussion on the need for resources, calling on Health Minister Michael Ferguson to commit to opening new beds as soon as Royal Hobart Hospital's new K Block comes on line.

"We urgently need 150 fully staffed additional beds at the RHH."

The comments were echoed by the Australian Medical Association Tasmania branch.

AMA spokesman Dr Frank Nicklason said while discussions were positive, it was a missed opportunity to address a "dire need for practical solutions".

"The elephant in the room remains that we simply do not have enough beds, regardless of what extra improvements we can find in terms of process," he said.

More than 50 stakeholders, influencers, staff and consumer representatives attended the meeting, co-hosted by Mr Ferguson and the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine.

ACEM president Dr Simon Judkins said he was disappointed with some comments made after the meeting, by those in attendance.

"Negative comments in the media undermine what we are trying to achieve," he said

"That is, tackle problems that have been around for a long period, and this will take time.

"It is naive to think that this will be addressed overnight."

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Tasmania branch executive director Andrew Brakey said the solutions had been delegated to senior clinicians within the Tasmania Health Service to implement.

"The plan is to have reports back by the end of July, as to how they are actually going to go about achieving those solutions," he said.

"From our point of view, it will be what's going to be expected from our members on the ground to help implement those solutions, especially in an environment where they are already feeling stressed."

Mr Brakey said he was hopeful the solutions would be applied to all major hospitals across the state.

An action plan for the agreed strategies is expected to be finalised over the coming days.

Mr Ferguson agreed the initiatives would be priorities for the Department of Health and Tasmanian Health Service to implement.

"The Department of Health will be working with ACEM over the coming days to finalise actions that we will implement," he said.