The Hodgman Liberal Government is implementing further measures to support the Royal Hobart Hospital Emergency Department.
An immediate boost of $5 million per annum will enable the ED to recruit new staff to provide better care for patients and better support our dedicated staff who are working in the face of growing demand, from all areas of the state.
The ED has experienced sustained growth in demand, with a 21% rise in admissions over the past three years. Importantly, the patients are sicker, with more complex needs requiring longer periods of care.
In the face of this, we must do more to support our staff. Based on proposals prepared by clinical staff at the Royal, the support provided by the funding is expected to include:
The RHH Executive will have autonomy and authority to allocate the new funding, in consultation with the senior leadership of the Emergency Department, and will have whatever support is necessary to fill these positions as quickly as possible.
This extra funding builds on the $1.5 million recently announced, and on top of the record $757 million investment in health. It is further proof of the Government’s determination to deliver a better health system.
In line with our commitment to consultation and allowing the experts to determine resourcing direction, the final decision is rightly one for local management and senior clinicians at the RHH, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Health.
The extra funding is available as of today, and we will ensure that recruitment is expedited for new positions.
The positions created by this funding will be ongoing, with permanent appointments made where possible.
The focus is to ensure we are best supporting patients, and supporting our hard working staff. We will also work to improve ramping and bed access wherever possible.
The Clinical Planning Taskforce has also been requested to explore measures to increase the physical footprint of the Emergency Department and report back as part of the master planning currently underway. This also builds on the recent decision by Cabinet to approve the reconfiguration of the 10th floor of K-Block, which frees up future physical expansion capacity for the RHH ED.
Of course, we are limited in terms of bed capacity by the physical constraints of the site, and the ultimate way forward is finishing the redevelopment, moving existing services into the new state-of-the-art building, and progressively opening 250 additional beds across the Royal Hobart and Repatriation Hospital campuses, informed by the Clinical Planning Taskforce.
While we await the opening of these beds, the funding announced today will support the RHH ED to provide the care that patients need.