Claims woman was asked to use bucket as toilet at Royal Hobart Hospital denied by Health Department

In a statement, department secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said RHH management had reviewed the claims, first made by the ABC, and said it found no evidence it occurred and that it "certainty isn't in line with protocol".

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"There are toilets available in the ED, including the waiting room, and there are clear protocols are in place to ensure that patients requiring support to access bathroom facilities are appropriately assisted," she said.

"I am advised that the use of buckets does not occur, although there may be situations where patients are provided with a bed pan in certain circumstances, as is the case in all hospitals.

"Rooms on wards in K-Block also have ensuite facilities available."

The hospital has reportedly been operating under its highest escalation, level four, for the past month.

On Wednesday Premier Peter Gutwein said he had not heard about the toilet claims, but said it was "obviously a matter that is not acceptable".

"I accept that we do have to do better. That's why we continued to invest ... to build the facilities that Tasmania needs and importantly that's why we continue to put more staff on," he said.

Labor leader Rebecca White said the claims about the RHH were confronting.

"There is no doubt that Tasmania's health system is at crisis and Peter Gutwein and Sarah Courtney do not have a plan to address it," she said.

"Right now the stories we are hearing from our hospitals is confronting, it's alarming, it's not normal and it doesn't have to be this way."

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