The state's nurses union says interim solutions are needed now to address increasing demand at the Launceston General Hospital emergency department.
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The LGH had the highest number of ED presentations (2616) waiting longer than 24 hours for admission across Tasmania's four hospitals the last financial year.
Now, the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine has called on the state government to commit to measures ensuring 60 per cent of patients requiring admission from the ED are admitted within four hours of arrival.
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The calls have been backed by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation.
Tasmania branch secretary Emily Shepherd said while long-term strategies had been realised, frontline staff need solutions now.
"We know that ambulance ramping continues to increase and we also know that the time a patient spends on a trolley before they are even taken off the ramp is increasing as well," she said.
"We are contributing to long-term strategic plans, which we are very supportive of.
"But in the interim we need to acknowledge that our members - nurses and their colleagues - are working in this emergency department that is overrun and they don't have the additional support that they need."
In late September the union threatened to take the government to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission unless a special panel was appointed to resolve workload issues in the LGH ED.
Ms Shepherd said the union had since reached an in principle agreement with Tasmanian Health Service Management for additional staffing, with a proposal to be taken back to members.
"That's looking at potentially like an additional 20 FTE nurses, based on the additional staffing the Royal [Hobart Hospital] has compared with the LGH," she said.
"That would look at additional positions like nurse navigators and those types of roles to facilitate flow and access in and out."
Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the government and the Tasmanian Health Service had taken action to boost patient flow and capacity at the LGH.
"There can be challenges and periods of real pressure at the LGH, and we're committed to doing whatever we can to meet growing demand," she said.
"We never want to see people waiting too long at our health care facilities and we will continue to work with the ACEM and staff within our hospitals to improve patient flow."
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