The new Report on Government Services shows Tasmania continues to lag the nation in delivering key health services and demonstrates why ambitious action is needed to turn these outcomes around.
It’s really worrying to see a big drop in the number of patients being seen on time in our EDs. After being in the middle of the pack just last year, Tasmania is now the worst in the nation on this critical measure. Particularly alarming is the fact less than half of ‘emergency’ patients are being seen on time.
Despite detailed expert recommendations for fixing our ambulance service being handed to government three years ago, the Liberals have continued to refuse to take appropriate action. The result is unacceptable ambulance response times, with this year’s data showing no improvement to last year’s shockingly bad outcomes.
There is no doubt that long response times are putting Tasmanians at risk. This data shows that last year more than 4500 emergency incidents had to wait more than 35 minutes for an ambulance to arrive – or one every two hours, every day of the year. That’s a huge delay for so many people, especially when every minute matters.
The problems in our EDs and ambulance services rightly receive a lot of attention, but there are concerning outcomes occurring right across our health system. Despite the best efforts of staff, Tasmania is really struggling to support mental health patients after they’ve been discharged from hospital stays. And we have ridiculously long waits for a dentist appointment in the public system.
We have seen the Rockliff Government making excuse after excuse when it comes to health. Every year they say they’re spending a record amount, but every year the results get worse. Something has to change.
We need this government to make ambitious action on health infrastructure and staffing a top priority. A health system that gives Tasmanians the care they need is so much more important than building another stadium.
Emergency Department Key Outcomes
- Tasmania recorded the worst results in the nation for patients being seen on time in Emergency Departments. 46% of patients were seen on time in 2024-25, down significantly from 51% the previous year. The national average is 67%.
- Category 2 (‘emergency’) patients were seen at a rate of 47% – also the worst of any jurisdiction. The national average is 68%.
- Patients also stayed in EDs longer than anywhere else in the nation. Just 47.5% were able to leave within 4 hours – down 3% from last year.
Ambulance Service Key Outcomes
- No improvement to last year’s record high, with the average response time for emergencies staying at 14.9 minutes for the state and 15.2 minutes for Hobart.
- 4,560 incidents that were verified emergencies received response times over 35.8 minutes.
- The number of 000 calls being answered within the recommended time of 10 seconds declined further. 97.9% of these calls were answered on time in 2019-20, last year the rate was 92%.
- There has been a decrease in the number of communications staff, clinical support staff, and transport patient officers
Other Key Outcomes
- Tasmanian mental health patients discharged from hospital after overnight stays received the lowest rate of follow up within 7 days (61.4%) and were the most likely to be readmitted to hospital within 28 days (14.95)
- Patients waiting for their first appointment after seeking dental care in the public system waited on average 1316 days – over 3.5 years
