Tasmanian Greens MPs

Amendment

The motion be amended by leaving out paragraphs (5) and (6) and inserting instead:

(5) Acknowledges that the Minister has already confirmed that an audit of escalation levels is presently underway, and recognises that it is the medical, nursing, allied health and other staff across our hospitals who are best placed to make decisions around internal patient flow processes.

Original Motion

That the House:—

(1)           Notes with concern reports that over the third weekend in October 2019, 12 admitted patients at the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) were waiting in the Emergency Department for longer than 24 hours, with four of those patients waiting longer than two days, and one patient forced to wait 16 hours in an ambulance.

(2)           Further notes that the Tasmanian Health Service Annual Report shows that only 56.6% of patients at the LGH experienced an Emergency Department stay of less than four hours, drastically short of the Service Plan target of not less than 90% of patients.

(3)           Further notes with concern the Auditor-General's finding that the rate of adverse events in the Emergency Department at the LGH increased significantly between 2015 and 2018.

(4)           Further notes that the Auditor-General’s Report into the performance of Tasmania’s four major hospitals in the delivery of Emergency Department services found that LGH spent 70% of the time between 29 June 2018 and 24 January 2019 at the highest possible level of escalation and in a state of almost constant gridlock.

(5)           Heeds the calls of nurses and doctors, through the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU), and the LGH Staff Association for the introduction of a fourth level in the LGH escalation policy, a response that was implemented at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

(6)           Calls on the Minister for Health, Hon Sarah Courtney MP, to commit to a review of the LGH escalation policy, including the manner in which a fourth escalation level will be introduced, in consultation with the ANMF, HACSU and the LGH Staff Association.