Tasmania’s Health Department has denied claims from the Australian Nurses and Midwives Federation (ANMF) that up to 15 beds in the Launceston General Hospital’s emergency department have been closed due to staff shortages.
ANMF Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd on Friday evening said the closures were a result of unplanned sick leave and that nurses were “exhausted and scared”.
“They are so fed up with a situation that neither the Tasmanian Health Service or state government have seen fit to neither alleviate nor put in place adequate resourcing strategies,” she said.
“It places the lives of the people of the greater north at risk as well as our members.”
Shepherd said that just because there are no beds available doesn’t mean people won’t present to the hospital, including those with life-threatening emergencies.
“This ongoing matter is reasonably outrageous and cannot continue,” she said.
However, the department has confirmed that all emergency department beds remain open and that the current staff shortage is being managed by agency nurses and personnel from other hospitals.
The Launceston General Hospital is the main public hospital servicing the Northern Tasmanian community.
