Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I rise to speak about health in Bass and more particularly the Launceston General Hospital emergency department. Before I begin, I thank the ANMF for their insights that they’ve given to the Greens into the state of healthcare at Launceston General Hospital and more broadly across the state.
Nurses and other health professionals and all health staff work hard across our health system to provide the care Tasmanians need. However, the system they are working in is stressed and breaking, and unfortunately that is breaking health staff and it’s impacting negatively on many Tasmanians who can’t get the care they need when they need it.
In recent times, it’s been reported that there have been up to 130 patients a day presenting in the emergency department at Launceston General Hospital, but of those patients, 20‑30 are being treated in the waiting room of the emergency department. They receive IV antibiotics, IV fluids, are officially admitted to hospital and transferred to the ward, all from the waiting room, sitting on hard plastic seats. Some are admitted to the emergency department for treatment on a trolley briefly and then return to the waiting room. How awful for patients to be so unwell they needed to attend Emergency, yet they end up sitting in an uncomfortable seat for extended periods.
Meanwhile the pressure on emergency department staff is intense. There are frequent shifts on which staff are working overtime, double shifts or are working short‑staffed. This is stressful and exhausting and the pressure is reflected in the high turnover of staff within the department, including senior management.
Part of this pressure stems from the transfer of care protocols the government view as a success. Ambulances are indeed transferring the care of patients in emergency departments more quickly. However, staffing in the emergency department has not been boosted to cover this increased movement of patients into the department. Ambulances are able to get on their way to helping the next patient, and this is good news, but the ED is choked up with patients who nurses struggle to care for.
There are solutions to this situation. Current HR processes are incredibly slow within the Department of Health. I have heard reports of job cards requesting changes to positions taking 14 months‑and‑counting to be processed by HR. Recruitment delays are preventing people from being employed, and this problem isn’t limited to the ED. The government must undertake work in HR to speed up decision‑making and onboarding processes so new staff can be more quickly employed to ease the pressure. There are also better ways to support staff in the emergency department to help reduce the stress and burnout they experience.
The high turnover of staff means many new staff are employed in the ED. At times this means high numbers of inexperienced staff who take time to gain the skills and expertise needed to care for high‑acuity patients. This situation could be helped by the employment of clinical coaches in the emergency department. They would be available to provide support to staff and help them develop skills. This would reduce stress and lead to more job satisfaction, safer patient care and less staff turnover.
Right now, emergency department staff do not have access to Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) programs that is available to staff of emergency services. This is a peer support program that provides support to staff following critical incidents, but staff in our emergency departments who experience critical incidents are not able to access this. Extending this program to ED staff will help ease the pressures on staff and contribute to better staff retention.
The Greens have long called for 24/7 pathology and radiology services to be available at Launceston General Hospital. We know that this would ease the situation in the emergency department as people can get the assessment that they need and be able to access the treatment they need more quickly.
There are also other things. There’s a possibility of demountable wards. This would increase capacity within the emergency department, but ultimately what it reflects is a need to speed up infrastructure builds. The Greens suggest that investment in this is a much greater priority and more important than a stadium, and we call on the government to invest in health infrastructure sooner rather than later. Things are tough in our emergency departments and in Launceston General Hospital in particular, but there are solutions and actions the government can and must take. The Greens call on the Liberal government to prioritise action and change in health over the stadium and do the work that’s needed to turn things around.
