Launceston co-located hospital planning 'constrained' amid COVID-19 pandemic

Calvary Launceston general manager Grant Musgrave said while planning was continuing, the coronavirus pandemic had affected its progress.

"COVID-19 has significantly impacted the ability for interaction between Department of Health and Calvary in relation to the bid, including the ability for travel and meetings," he said.

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"Given the government has been focused on the COVID-19 response, understandably engagement in respect to our unsolicited proposal has been somewhat constrained in this extraordinary time."

Calvary's unsolicited bid for the hospital was first put to the state government in December 2017. The new build would replace the private health provider's St Luke's and St Vincent's hospitals.

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Mr Musgrave said he was confident a co-located private hospital would add to Tasmania's overall health capacity.

"Not only in providing for the day-to-day health needs of the community, but also in times of heightened demand like we have seen recently," he said.

Existing Health Department land at 52 Frankland Street has already been earmarked by the government as the preferred site.

A government spokesperson said the Health Department was continuing to assist the Office of the Coordinator General with progressing the proposal.

"A revised timeline is currently being worked through, with the significant level of resources allocated to meeting the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately disrupting work that had been planned for the first half of this year.

"The LGH masterplanning work will include more detailed consideration of how a collocated private hospital could complement the LGH and deliver the best health outcomes for the region and state."

Meanwhile, the Australian Medical Association Tasmania branch has urged the state government not to turn its back on its investment in health and hospital infrastructure.

No additional funding was announced for the state's hospitals as part of Thursday's revised $3.1 billion infrastructure package.

Vice president Dr John Davis said it was vital that Tasmanian health infrastructure was able to keep up with both innovation and demand, including support for the LGH master planning process.

"Now is the time to implement new infrastructure builds including Primary Care Short Stay units and expanded ICU capacity, and further increases to annual budget allocations which will allow needed maintenance of hospital equipment across the state," he said.

"[We need to see] support for the Launceston General Hospital Master planning process to ensure the LGH can manage increasing demand and deliver modern and efficient health services into the future with the appropriate infrastructure in place."