Tasmania's private hospitals could be called on to treat public patients after the Commonwealth government stood up it's Private Hospitals Agreement, amid rising COVID cases.
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Speaking on Tuesday, Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt said the government was activating the agreement that could see state governments gain access to private hospital beds in exchange for financial support.
"We are activating the Private Hospitals Agreement,' he said.
"This agreement was established over the course of late March and early April in 2020, and it was designed for supporting state hospital systems at any time where they may have significant numbers."
Mr Hunt said the agreement would see up to 57,000 nurses and over 100,000 staff made available to COVID affected areas around the country.
"It's a workforce which is skilled, planned, appropriate and available. The states and territories will, where necessary, work directly with the staff and with the hospitals themselves," he said.
"Whether it's the large private hospital networks or the smaller private hospitals, it will be up to the states and territories to activate those, but we have activated them at the Commonwealth end."
On Wednesday, Premier Peter Gutwein said the Mersey Community Hospital was dealing with a managed outbreak after eight patients and one staff member had tested positive for COVID-19.
Earlier in the month, the Launceston General Hospital, Royal Hobart Hospital and North West Regional Hospitals all entered pandemic response level three escalation following a rise in staff COVID cases.
The Tasmanian government did not confirm if it was considering implementing the Private Hospitals Agreement, only advising the Department of Health was working with private health providers and the federal government to ensure the state was well-placed to manage COVID.
A spokesperson for Calvary, the operators of the St Luke's and St Vincent's private hospitals in Launceston, said they would work with the Government and DoH in responding to COVID.
They did not advise if any services had been interrupted or how many staff had been impacted by COVID, only stating their hospitals had not been significantly impacted since the opening of borders on December 15.
St.LukesHealth chief executive Paul Lupo said members receiving care through private hospitals had declined slightly, but said services had not been significantly impacted.
"I know in the very early stages of December and early January there was quite a bit of concern with some of the private hospitals but that's all settled down now," he said.
"We haven't seen a lot of cancellations, but for some context, we're probably down anywhere between five and 10 per cent on where we might have been last year - and you can get variability like that in a normal year."
Andrew Chounding is The Examiner's Health Reporter, if you have a health-related story please email Andrew.chounding@examiner.com.au
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