Why would you come to Tasmania, why would you stay? It's a question being asked by too many health professionals, according to the Australian Medical Association, who's warned doctors are facing pay cuts of up to $200,000 if they choose to come and work in the state.
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The peak body has also warned there is no point opening additional hospital beds, if there's no staff to manage them.
The question came in response to Thursday's state budget, which despite a "record" $10.7 billion spend for health over the next four years, has left many stakeholders labelling it as nothing but a cash splash.
At the root of most concerns is how additional services, beds and buildings promised in this year's state election are going to impact a workforce that's already stretched to breaking point.
How the government plans to fill additional roles in the health system to help meet increasing demand is also a question being asked by unions, particularly when it comes to the $196.4 million plan to deliver almost 30,000 surgeries and endoscopies over the next four years.
The government says it will recruit 180 additional staff to support the expected volume increase, but given that existing vacancies in the system remain unfilled - the question of how remains a fair one to ask.
There's no denying the more than 11,000 Tasmanians waiting for elective surgery deserve to receive the care they need - urgently.
But we also know that any increased investment in elective surgery is going to have massive flow on affects to hospital admissions - which again, are already struggling to meet demand.
The government says it's committed to finding solutions, with $15.7 million budgeted to implement its Health Workforce 2040 Strategy.
This is the sort of long-term visions our state needs if its ever going to overcome the numerous challenges facing our health sector. But we also need real-time solutions.
It's a balancing act, and if we don't get it right we run the very real risk of making an already bad situation even worse.
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