More than $500,000 in preventive health grants will flow to 26 community projects around the State to improve the health and wellbeing of Tasmanians.
The Hodgman Liberal Government’s Healthy Tasmania Community Innovations Grants of up to $25,000 each, are encouraging innovation and grassroots community action to improve the health of Tasmanians.
The projects will focus on quitting smoking, healthy eating, physical activity and community connection.
Tenders will be called within the next month for works to upgrade the much loved 4K children’s ward at the Launceston General Hospital following final approval of the Liberal Government funding and development plans.
I was pleased to meet with staff and parents of young patients yesterday to view design plans which represent the first major upgrade of the paediatric ward since it was built more than 30 years ago.
The project will see ward 4K upgraded and expanded to meet the clinical needs of acutely ill children as well as provide a much better environment for recovery.
The Liberal Government is committed to putting patients back where they belong – at the forefront of decision-making in health.
In our first budget we delivered a record investment in health. It is clear, however, that without reform of the system itself we cannot expect to achieve improved health outcomes in the long term.
The fact is that despite the professionalism and dedication of our health professionals, the system is not working, and in its current form cannot work. We cannot continue to ask patients and hard-working staff to battle against a system which has proven it cannot deliver the health outcomes Tasmanians deserve.
Unlike the previous Labor-Green government, we understand that the only goal worth striving for is for better services and better health outcomes – not the approach of longer waiting lists which the previous government oversaw.
That’s why we are undertaking the One State, One Health System, Better Outcomes reform agenda. A key part of this is the White Paper process on Delivering Safe and Sustainable Clinical Services. This will ensure that all Tasmanians will have equal access to better health services, regardless of where they live.
Last month we released the Green Paper for discussion and this week we are holding consultation forums across the state to receive direct input from health professionals and consumers into how we can deliver outcomes for patients better than what the system is currently capable of achieving.
The Green Paper starts an informed conversation with the community, clinicians and those who work in our health system on how we can, and must, improve. Public forums on the Green Paper are being held in Burnie, Devonport, Hobart and Launceston this week.
We should be aiming for essential and emergency services delivered at high quality in each region. Equally, we must be willing to question whether complex, high-acuity services provided irregularly in multiple locations is efficient or even safe.
Central to our reform plans will be the development of a Clinical Services Profile, describing where services can be located in a manner that gives all Tasmanians access to better services.
The Liberal Government is acting decisively in health. We’ve established the Health Council of Tasmania to provide high level advice to the Government. We’ve got the redevelopment of the Royal Hobart Hospital back on track. In July this year three Tasmanian Health Organisations will be merged into one Tasmanian Health Service, creating a more efficient service and saving up to $21 million to be reinvested back into an improved health system.
Tasmanians should no longer accept the status quo where our health outcomes are among the worst in the country. Real, genuine reform is needed and the Liberal Government is working with the community to develop a shared understanding of the problem and a commitment to successfully achieve the much-needed reforms.
Consultation dates and venues:
Wednesday 21 January 2015: Hobart Public Forum 5:00 PM – 7:00, PM Hobart City Hall
Thursday 22 January 2015: Devonport Public Forum 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Devonport Entertainment and Convention Centre – Town Hall Theatre
Burnie Public Forum 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM Burnie Arts and Function Centre
Friday 23 January 2015: Launceston Public Forum 4:00 – 6.00 PM Grand Chancellor
The Green Paper and other consultation information can be found online at www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/onehealthsystem
A final White paper on reform will be released in March.
The Liberal Government is committed to fixing Tasmania’s health system and putting patients back at the forefront of every decision – where they belong. Today we have released a Green Paper on Delivering Safe and Sustainable Clinical Services in Tasmania as the next step in our One State, One Health System, Better Outcomes plan to rebuild essential services.
It’s time to shift the conversation to one about “access to better care”, rather than one about “better access to care”. (more…)
The Liberal Government has delivered record spending of $1.465 billion on health in 2014-15 as we begin rebuilding the health system.
This is an increase of 5 per cent on last year’s health funding as we work to begin fixing the mess left in health by the previous Labor-Green government. (more…)
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