24 June 2019
ANMF CALL FOR HEALTH ACCESS SOLUTIONS IN NORTH AND NORTH WEST TASMANIA
Media Doorstop
When: SATURDAY, 22 MAY 2019
Time: 1100
Where: Front Entrance of Launceston General Hospital
Who: ANMF Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd, LGH Emergency Department ANMF Delegate
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) are hopeful that this week’s meeting on Access Block at the Royal Hobart Hospital will lead to positive solutions for the RHH emergency Department. Solutions such as nurse led discharge and a review of community services in the south of Tasmania are simple examples of effective action that will go improve flow of patients through the hospital.
At the meeting a commitment was made that the solutions put forward will flow through the entire health service and aide in improving access to health services for all Tasmanian’s. ‘ANMF is highly supportive of this work being undertaken as access block and workloads for nurses and midwives is not contained to the south of the state.’ Said state secretary Emily Shepherd
‘A number of solutions put forward at the meeting can be completed within the current budget’ said Ms Shepherd ‘However it is not always possible to implement solutions on a cost neutral basis, and there are initiatives that could be implemented right now across the north and north west of the state to improve access to health services if the government would commit the funding to do so’
In Launceston ANMF and its members working in the LGH Emergency Department have been campaigning for over 12 months to see improvements to flow at the hospital. ‘It has been identified that patient safety could be improved by ensuring patients being admitted from ambulances into the department have access to the equipment and resources required to provide safe patient care’ said Ms shepherd ‘ Capital works of the Emergency Department to achieve this has been costed at 1 million dollars, a small part of the health budget’
Nurses and Midwives at the North West regional hospitals Emergency Department continue to call for a specialist psychiatric emergency nurse to coordinate safe care of mental health patients in the department. ‘These nurses have been implemented at the LGH and RHH already’ said Emily Shepherd ‘Why would the same support not be afforded to nurses and mental health patients in the north west of the sate’
‘Tasmanian’s across the state deserve equal access to health services.’ said Ms. Shepherd ‘The department of health and THS need to ensure that the solutions that come out of this weeks access meeting are implemented state-wide, even if it comes at a cost to the health budget’
–End
Media contact:
Emily Shepherd, Branch Secretary
Mobile: 0400 884 021
Email: emily.shepherd@anmftas.org.au
OR
Media contact:
Andrew Brakey, Executive Director
Mobile: 0427 385 501
Email: andrew.brakey@anmftas.org.au