New minister same old problems

Blah blah New minister, same old problems

IN MAY this year Jeremy Rockliff became the newest episode in the Yes Minister of Health series.

To say public sector health is in crisis is a bit of an understatement – it's basically a shambles. The issues of ramping and chronic understaffing won't just go away because of a sense of hope for the best, and redevelopments at both of Tasmania’s major hospitals are timely but not a fix in themselves. Over the winter of 2021 there have been many meetings with senior health management figures to recast the overall management structure of the Tasmanian Health Service. This is akin to reshuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic, but we're told it needs to be done to align the reporting lines. But the question is, as always, where are the staff? Grand announcements about reducing the elective surgery waiting list and throwing big dollar figures about make for fine press releases, photo opps and headlines. These distract the public for another day, but without the staff it makes no difference to the real numbers on the ground. We're told, again by media release, that there are recruitment plans in place – no detail – just 'trust us, we know what we are doing'. It would be easier to accept the rhetoric about plans to employ more staff if their bad form wasn't already on the board. We haven’t forgotten a 2% wage cap plan and we haven’t forgotten the cuts to public health care when they were first elected. The tired old argument that it's cheaper to live in Tasmania has morphed into Tasmania being a lifestyle choice – but we don’t know anyone willing to trade off up to $30,000 a year for lifestyle. We need to attract more staff to work in public health, as our hospitals were already at capacity, and don’t even mention a global COVID pandemic. We need staff everywhere – administration, cleaners, cooks, orderlies, support workers, procurement staff, radiographers, dentists and more. We need all the nurses and allied health workers we can get. That takes a commitment to pay decent wages, provide decent working conditions and a plan to rebuild the health system from the ground up. Let's see if the government is serious about making a difference to healthcare in Tasmania or if it's just another smoke and mirror show. They'll have the opportunity later this year when we enter the public sector wage negotiations. Minister, time is ticking.