Royal Rescue Taskforce announced
The Liberal Government is determined to rescue the Royal.
Today I can announce the Royal Redevelopment Rescue Taskforce will be led by the highly respected John Ramsay. (more…)
Tasmania’s health mess and my commitment to you
As Minister for Health in the new majority Liberal Government, we’ve got a plan to get our state healthier and invest in frontline health services.
I was sworn in on March 31 and immediately got to work to analyse what I’ve inherited. In the short time I’ve been in this role, many things have come to light directly as a result of the previous Labor Government’s mismanagement and failure of leadership which have appalled me and let down the whole community. Sadly, things are rather worse than I thought would be the case.
Yesterday we released the interim report of the Commission into the Delivery of Health Services in Tasmania (set up by state and federal Labor in 2012) which paints a damning picture of the results of Labor mismanagement and neglect. The report draws specific attention to the “seriously deficient” and “flawed” planning of the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment and calls for the development to be placed on hold while the mess is cleaned up.
Please be assured that while we have to rip the bandaid off this gaping wound, I will be working hard to deliver Tasmanians the health services they need and deserve. We will rescue the Royal.
On the positive side, I have commenced the work required to separate emergency and elective surgery streams in order to give more certainty to patients, have released the hidden waiting list and have briefed my department on our election commitment to invest in frontline services such as elective surgery.
