Two annual reports tabled in Parliament today demonstrate the progress the Hodgman Government is making to improve our health system.
In particular, the Tasmanian Health Service 2015-16 Annual Report highlights that over the past year the Government employed an extra 128.98 full-time equivalent (FTE) nurses and a total of 141.15 FTE since the election.
This Government had a clear plan in coming to office – to fix the Budget mess left behind by Labor and the Greens, and to turn around the declining economy.
We have done both and this means we are now in the position where we can reinvest the dividends into the core, essential services of Government, and as a result we have been able to direct funding to where it is needed most – hiring more front-line staff.
This has included the employment of 30 FTE allied health professionals since last year and 32.63 FTE doctors.
Other highlights include:
A record number of surgeries performed which has reduced the wait lists and the time Tasmanians are waiting for surgery;
An additional $6.4 million as part of a five-year plan to make Tasmania the healthiest in the country;
The Patient’s First action plan which is ensuring better procedures are in place in our hospitals to maximise patient flow and;
The launch of the Rethink Mental Health Better Health and Wellbeing – A Long-Term Plan for Mental Health in Tasmania 2015-2020, which includes the development of a number of suicide prevention measures.
The Government has also made significant progress in delivering a redeveloped, state-of-the-art Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) for generations of Tasmanians to come.
A change in how emergency response times are calculated has seen an increase of 48 seconds noted which is due to the inclusion of the time it takes to process the call, but there is no indication that ambulances are taking longer to get to their destination.
In fact the Government has increased paramedic numbers by 33.32 FTEs.
The Hodgman Government will continue to implement our One Health System reforms to deliver higher quality services and better care for all Tasmanians regardless of where they live.