Minister, is the government still committed to infection prevention and control across the Tasmanian hospital system, and if so, what is your infection prevention control program?
Minister, I know that this topic has come up a couple of times this morning, and the honourable member for Nelson has asked you some questions about it, but I did flag that we would ask also again. As you know, in June of this year, the report of the review into reportable deaths at the Launceston General Hospital was handed down. It found numerous issues with death reporting practices undertaken by Dr Peter Renshaw and referred 29 deaths to the Coroner. But the review mainly only looked at matters that occurred between 2020 and 2022.
Minister, I ask you about the MOU which was signed between the Liberal Party of Tasmania and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Last year in Estimates we did talk about the arrangement between the RFDS with Hobart Airport while the runway upgrade is occurring. I have got a series of questions on this issue. Given that the runway work is now underway, Minister, are you able to give us an update on that work?
Can I just confirm through you, minister, there's one cohort of nurses who are in patient-facing roles who are exempt from vacancy control. Are they the nurses on the wards? What sort of nurses are we talking about here, because there are different categorisations. One small group of nurses is exempt. Where are they in the system?
I just want to explore the vacancy control program. There was a leaked email which went out to, we presume, numerous THS staff which confirmed the existence of a vacancy control program. At least one committee was referenced in that leaked email which was established to oversee the process. Have any staff roles been entirely exempted from vacancy control measures?
The Greens are very concerned to understand what the human implications of the $130 million in savings across the forward estimates will be, and that's just the efficiency dividend. So, minister, we presume it'll be left to the department to determine how that efficiency dividend is achieved. And perhaps through you, the secretary could give us some idea about the plan for these savings. But what we want to understand is exactly what measures will be taken in order to achieve these $130 million in cuts, and how many full-time equivalent positions do you expect to be cut?
The 2024-25 State Budget manages to send lutruwita/Tasmania into substantial further debt without addressing the major challenges facing the state and its people.
In February this year, the Public Works Committee recommended the expansion of the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) emergency department (ED) at a cost of $149 million, with increased capacity intended to meet growing demand over the next 10 years.
Honourable Speaker, this morning in question time, the Premier referred to comments I made regarding planned infrastructure spending in the upcoming state budget. He described me and, through me, the Greens, as being anti-school buildings, anti-roads and anti upgrading hospitals. I want to take this opportunity to correct the record.
We understand that earlier this year, concerned health staff made complaints to Tasmania Police about the conduct of former LGH manager, Dr Peter Renshaw, including allegations he breached the Coroners Act 1995.