The Hodgman Liberal Government made a commitment to reduce the number of double shifts worked by our nurses and midwives and real progress has been made.
Under our policy, during 2016 double shifts were reduced by 18 per cent on the previous calendar year, or 819 fewer double shifts, across Tasmania.
This includes significant reductions at the Royal Hobart Hospital and the Launceston General Hospital.
The continued improvement in reducing double shifts in Tasmania indicates that the Government’s policy, introduced in January 2016, has been effective in reducing the occurrence of double shifts throughout last year.
We have always been clear this isn’t a silver bullet, and we must continue to work to minimise the incidence of double shifts, particularly as we face increasing demand as we’ve seen this year.
The recruitment of more permanent nurses to staff the 50 new beds we are opening is well advanced, and this will help put downward pressure on double shifts by growing our permanent nursing workforce.
The Hodgman Government has worked hard to address the occurrence of double shifts for our hard working nurses and midwives, and record investment in health and our One Health System reforms is making this a reality.