AMA Tasmania calls for budget to prioritise patients in overwhelmed health system

AMA Tasmania President, Dr Michael Lumsden-Steel, said Tasmanians are experiencing the real-world consequences of a blocked system: life-changing and function-restoring procedures postponed because beds are unavailable, patients waiting too long in emergency departments, ambulances ramped outside hospitals, and delays in radiology and pathology results directly impacting clinical care.

“To put it plainly: the system is overwhelmed, staff are exhausted, and patients are being harmed. The system has lost any remaining capacity to absorb pressure,” Dr Lumsden-Steel said.

“Emergency department and medical ward staff are stretched to breaking point, while theatre teams are left idle because there are no beds for patients after surgery. That means wasted theatre capacity and patients missing out on critical procedures. 

“If the Government wants efficient theatres, it must open more medical beds, fix patient flow and quarantine surgical beds.

“We have diagnostic services in radiology and pathology unable to keep up with processing tests for lack of investment in staff and modern equipment leaving some patients being diagnosed with cancer too late. 

“The Cancer Research Unit has been cut back, leaving patients without access to critical cancer trials and giving doctors seeking better treatments for their patients, one less reason to stay.

“It’s near impossible to be innovative, brave, and take on change when the system has become so rigid, inflexible, and has lost momentum. 

“This Budget must be about more than short-term fixes or asking already overstretched services to find efficiencies. There are no meaningful efficiencies left to extract from hospitals that are already operating beyond safe capacity.

“The Government needs to go back to the drawing board and build a new health plan for Tasmania; one that is transparent about demand, where services should be delivered, what workforce is required, what infrastructure is needed, and how the whole system works together.

“General practice is fundamental to that system. But the State Government must not duplicate or compete with general practice by setting up parallel services that draw on the same limited workforce.

“What we need is genuine collaboration between hospitals, community services and GPs. That means real-time sharing of clinical information from hospitals to GPs, so care is connected, follow-up is safe, and patients do not fall through the cracks.”

AMA Tasmania said the Budget must prioritise core patient safety risks before new discretionary initiatives.

“Right now, too many Tasmanians are being let down not because doctors, nurses, paramedics, allied health professionals or support staff are not working hard enough, but because the system is chronically underbuilt, understaffed and under-resourced for the level of need it faces every day.”

AMA Tasmania said the Budget should fund:

• a clear assessment of current and future medical staffing requirements, backed by a funded recruitment and retention strategy for specialists and junior doctors.
• patient flow across the whole hospital and community system, including step-down beds, rehabilitation, subacute care, Hospital in the Home, community care, and aged care capacity.
• increased geriatrician capacity, including geriatricians embedded in EDs, alongside virtual care models and better support for residential aged care to avoid unnecessary ED presentations and admissions.
• radiology and pathology capacity, with clear turnaround expectations, stronger escalation and accountability, and coordinated systems to prevent unsafe diagnostic backlogs.
• hospital-to-community information sharing, including with GPs, and full funding of Bluegum to end reliance on paper and fax and deliver compatible imaging and reporting systems.
• ED medication charting pharmacists statewide to improve medication safety and reduce length of stay.
• strategic use of private hospitals, private diagnostics, and private specialists to maintain patient momentum whilst public system is rebuilt 
• a new whole-of-system health plan that clearly sets out current demand, projected demand, and how the Tasmanian health system will meet it.

Dr Lumsden-Steel said Tasmania cannot continue trying to “save” its way out of a health crisis.

“Tasmanians deserve a health system that works. Thursday’s Budget must show the Government is prepared to make the decisions necessary to protect patients and support the staff who care for them.”>>>ENDS