Information released today by the Department of Health shows medical locum expenditure was $33.7 million across Tasmania’s four major hospitals during 2019-20.
Locum expenditure for 2019-20 was lowest in the most recent March to June quarter of 2020, noting the impact of COVID-19 on our health system.
As a Government we are trying to reduce our reliance on locums, and we are working to improve this across all of our hospitals.
Between coming to Government in March 2014 and June this year, there are now more than 1500 FTE additional staff in our health system.
This includes an increase of 59.5 FTE medical practitioners in 2019-20, and we’ve recently announced new permanent positions in the NW to support the Mersey ED.
Across the THS we have increased staffing significantly since 2014, and our record $9.8 billion health spend includes $6.2 billion for employee entitlements, including $1.5 billion this year alone.
The information can be found at: http://www.health.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/417962/RTI202021-014.pdf