Those warnings then turn into statistics showing the deteriorating conditions for staff and patients in hospitals, lengthening waiting times in emergency and on elective surgery waiting lists, and decreased access to ambulance services for rural Tasmanians.

And then come the horror stories. In April, a 93-year-old woman waited alone for five hours in unbearable pain in the Launceston General Hospital emergency department.

Later that month, an 87-year-old had to use his jacket and blankets to keep himself warm while suffering pneumonia in the LGH waiting room for nine hours. He was admitted to a ward 30 hours after his arrival.

Now there's the consequences of limited ambulances and paramedics in the North-East, with an elderly woman waiting an hour after a fall in a public place.

These are just the stories that reach the media too, with untold others having their own experiences in an overcrowded and uncomfortable hospital waiting room, or enduring unbearable pain while overstretched paramedics do their best to attend to everyone in a timely manner.

But is there really a better future around the corner, or are Tasmanians just expected to endure the status quo, albeit with fiddling around the edges by the government?

The nurse's union's attempt to solve staffing issues at the LGH went unanswered by the government and had to be taken to the Industrial Commission. They also demanded the government address a vacancy rate of 400 positions during the election campaign, but this was also largely ignored.

Upcoming works at the LGH emergency department - yet to be explained in detail - involve an upgraded airlock, but will that do anything to solve bed block?

In the end, it comes down to priorities. If the government had the genuine will to ensure no Tasmanian had to experience unnecessary suffering in the health system, it could be achieved. Some things are more important than simply having the budget as the number one priority.