LABOR PARTLY TO BLAME
I DON'T know where Dr Bastian Seidel was when Labor was looking after the health portfolio? They nearly broke the state and nurses were being laid off in large numbers and left the state, it was a disaster. And those ministers are still influential to the Labor Party. So to say that the system has been in chaos and dysfunction for seven years compared to the last lot of mismanagement is wrong. With the unfortunate introduction of COVID into our world and to live with a major change to the future of how we live, it is fair to say that our health system has fared pretty well.
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Health is a big issue, it means fixing humans and that's all of us but the big issue on all humans minds without a doubt will be and is the world's environment, and that will be the greatest voting issue for the future.
Fix the environment and our health might not be such a drain on the health system.
Peter Douglas, Karoola.
DEDICATED NORTHERN HOSPICE
BRUCE Levett (The Sunday Examiner, April 18) made some very good points.
People are seeking community-driven health hubs located across their regional towns, where they can have all their health needs assessed in one place.
READ MORE: Pledge to reopen and upgrade Glen Dhu Pool
They are frustrated when they cannot access or easily navigate a system that is complex and siloed. Centres that can support appropriate palliative and end of life care services, done away from hospital settings. The terminally ill, who cannot or do not wish to remain at home will undoubtedly end up being admitted to the LGH.
A dedicated Hospice in the Allambi building, as proposed by the Friends of Northern Hospice, would see all the appropriate services brought together.
For those able or wishing to be cared for at home, community palliative services, operating from the same facility would allow for a fully co-ordinated, cost-effective service.
Barb Baker, Friends of Northern Hospice, Longford.
MISMANAGEMENT MUST STOP
HOW we treat our sick is a measure of our humanity.
Not only did my wife wait eight hours in Launceston General Hospital emergency before being admitted with a condition that had the potential to end in a severe stroke, but the staff put in a report to her GP that she kept disappearing outside.
She did just once, after waiting more than seven hours, she stood outside the doors to phone a private practice to see if she could get treatment.
Decades of political mismanagement must stop.
Jack Edwards, Kings Meadows.
TAMAR DREDGING & SCIENCE
OVER the past year pandemic conscious politicians have acted in accordance with scientific advice.
Yet who (think which side of politics) held out longest against masks and lockdowns? Who ridiculed state governments for damaging the economy (yet as things turned out lockdowns protected the economy).
And which state government has the second-worst COVID-19 record and, through blank eyes, blinked its inactivity for three weeks until the reality of the science shook them awake in April last year and they finally acted to control the COVID-19 outbreak in the neglected North West?
Yep. The same people who called an election about being a minority government in the same week they secured an outright majority of 13 votes on the floor of the legislative assembly (after 18 months running the state with a maverick speaker and only 12 votes on the floor).
And now this gang insists it will dredge the upper Tamar estuary regardless of the science (which is being held back until after the election).
Mitchell Dabelstein, Launceston.
DOG OWNER ETIQUETTE
SHORT of forcing people to train their dogs, could the council put up signs at the gates of dog parks to remind users that just because the parks are off-leash, they are not absolved of responsibility?
They should always supervise their dogs and have basic control when there are issues. We often feel bullied when walking there. Our dogs deserve the freedom just as much, if not more, as we take the trouble of training them so they are safer to be around for everyone.
The parks can be rather unpleasant when some dogs are allowed to rush at people, other dogs, or wildlife.
They often do not take "no" for an answer, and their owners' only response is "what do you expect, it is a dog park? We wouldn't tolerate such poor social skills from children.
Isabelle Shickle, Prospect.
COVID-19 RESPONSE
TWO issues arising from the COVID-19 Australian response are:
The first relates to the actions of states and territories, which have borne the brunt of limiting the impact of the virus.
It has been encouraging that in the main, all parties have been in accord with the actions that have been taken.
Certainly in Tasmania.
As such, the COVID-19 response in Tasmania should not be seen as an election issue.
The second issue relates to the requirement that nurses who are to deliver the vaccines must undertake specialist training.
No problem. However, these nurses are required to pay for that training, themselves or their employer.
I believe that the cost of that training is about $100 and that the COVID-19 response is an emergency; yet we charge our frontline workers training fees.
What is the Prime Minister's response?
