The long-awaited Launceston General Hospital draft masterplan, a roadmap for the health precinct's next 20 years, has finally been unveiled for public consultation.
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Released Thursday, the government has committed to providing $580 million, over 10 years, for the project.
Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the funding would ensure that the redevelopment would "commence initially". However, when asked for a specific commitment around dates, he said details were a matter for August's state budget.
"Over the course of the next 10 years we've got $580 million committed - quite clearly the mental health precinct will be a very important part of that," he said.
"This is a significant state development ... we are in need of a more contemporary designed and built infrastructure that caters for modern ways of health delivery, contemporary practices and indeed provides that technology as models of care develop.
"We'll be having discussions with our federal colleagues moving forward, and how important our federal colleagues are in terms of health infrastructure across Tasmania".
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The redevelopment was a 2018 election commitment, with the draft masterplan expected at the end of 2019 - with the timeline later revised in response to COVID-19.
On Thursday, the newly appointed health minister publicly guaranteed that the "significant" development would occur during this term of government.
"We will do it, we will action it," Mr Rockliff said.
"Our commitment is there, and our expectation is there and our expectation is that there will be significant development over the course of the next four years.
"The mental health precinct - my expectation is that will be up and running and completed by 2027".
The public is encouraged to provide feedback through online submissions, with community forums also set to be held in coming weeks.
"Developing a modern health precinct, health consumer focussed, one that can provide flexible models of healthcare, contemporary practices and we're very excited we have a draft out for consultation," Mr Rockliff said.
"The community can absorb the draft and indeed provide input, and that will include consumer groups, healthcare workers over the next six weeks.
"It's important that we listen to the community's voice in terms of the way forward, and as soon as possible we'll be breaking further ground and redeveloping the hospital".
Discussions are still ongoing on plans for a co-located private hospital.
"We're working with Calvary over the course of the next seven days ... to progress those co-location discussions," Mr Rockliff said.
The number of extra beds the masterplan will create, or the staffing positions, is yet to be determined.
People can provide feedback or register to attend focus groups via the Health Department website.
LGH Consumer and Community Engagement Council chairman Peter O'Sullivan said he was positive about what was outlined in the draft masterplan, and was confident the redevelopment would be delivered upon.
"The work that's going to happen in the emergency department is going to be good, and the fact that we are going to eventually have a state of the art mental health facility ... I think that's a great thing for the hospital," he said.
Acting Labor Leader Anita Dow said significant questions remained about how the government planned to fund the development and how they would staff it.
"Whilst we welcome their commitment to this site and improving this site, we really want to understand how they're going to fund this masterplan, there doesn't appear to be a lot of detail about that and there wasn't any money in the federal budget for this project," she said.
"We also want to understand how they're going to staff these changes - their key priority at the moment should be permanent staffing across our health facilities across our state, it's one of the number one issues which is putting pressure on the health system right across Tasmania and the crisis continues to escalate.
We want to understand firstly how they will fund this project, and secondly how they would staff it and whether they really are committed to permanent staffing across the health system.
- Anita Dow
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Tasmania branch secretary Emily Shepherd said it was a "positive first step" to see the plan in place, but that the ANMF had raised concern over the need for adequate staffing resources
"We've raised not only the need for infrastructure, but a broader strategy around our models of care," she said.
"So, how that will interface with clinical operations, how it aligns with the needs of the community and what the evidence is telling us about the demographic profile of Northern Tasmanians and the future health demands.
"Clearly, already, resourcing health services is a challenge for us.
"We are very keen to set to work with the health recruitment taskforce established to get a strategic plan in place that not only addresses the current risks, but sets us up for the future in making sure we do have the constant supply of nurses and midwives to fill positions to deliver services."
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