The new $7 million ward at the Hobart Repatriation Hospital will be operational within weeks, helping to ease pressure on the Royal Hobart Hospital and deliver more capacity for the health system.
The 22 new beds, as part of the Repat upgrade, come on top of the roll out of 298 new beds across the state, outlined in the Budget. The beds will be progressively rolled out as new wards and redevelopments are completed, to deliver the physical space to enable capacity to expand.
The Repat Hospital will be welcoming new staff and holding inductions within the next month, with more than 50 staff to operate the unit.
On top of these 22 new beds, nine more bed spaces will also become available at the Royal Hobart Hospital by the end of the week to help meet winter demand.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is delivering on our commitment to recruit more frontline staff, open more beds and invest in health infrastructure.
Last week’s Budget commenced our record $757 million plan over six years to build a better health system. The Budget includes more than $475 million in capital funding for important new and upgraded infrastructure.
Over the past four years, we have already re-opened wards closed by Labor and the Greens, delivered new beds and recruited more staff, and now we are able to take our health system to the next level and plan for the future.
We will recruit an estimated 478 new full-time staff over the next four years, including 138 in the first year, and will continue rolling out new beds to ensure Tasmanians get the care they need sooner.