Tasmania’s health system is failing older Tasmanians needing medical care, according to a new report from the Australian College for Emergency Medicine. The Liberals should be increasing investment in the health system to ensure older people aren’t left behind, not cutting $700 million.
Between 2018-19 and 2023-24 the number of older people attending Tasmanian emergency departments increased by 19%, compared to a 2% increase among younger people. In 2023-24, only 40% of older patients left emergency departments within the recommended eight hours.
Tasmania has the highest proportion of people aged over 65 in the nation, and our aging population is only growing. The Liberal Government simply hasn’t done enough to prepare our hospital system for the increasing numbers of older Tasmanians who need medical help.
It’s led to overcrowded emergency departments and ambulances not being able to reach people when they need them. Elderly Tasmanians are being left in pain in hospital waiting room chairs or on trollies in corridors, particularly vulnerable to their condition getting worse.
While the Liberals like to blame the issues in Tasmania’s health system on the Federal Government, there’s so much more they can do. The report recommends more state government funding is needed for services in the community, increased hospital bed capacity and better patient flow.
To cut $700 million from the health system at a time when more investment is needed to ensure older Tasmanians get the medical care they need is utterly diabolical. The Liberal Government are leaving older people in our community behind.
The Liberals are taking $700 million from a health system Tasmanians rely on with one hand and getting set to hand more than a billion dollars to companies to build a stadium with the other. Tasmanians only get more and more outraged at the Liberals’ warped priorities.
