The health minister has ruled out a commission of inquiry into Tasmania’s health system, as the government faces questions over two deaths linked to ambulance delays.
Bridget Archer told parliament on Tuesday the death of a Hobart man, whose family drove him to hospital because no ambulance was immediately available, had been referred to the coroner.
“I will not preempt any findings, but what I will say is that if there have been any systemic failings, we will absolutely resolve them in the best interests of Tasmanians,” she said during question time.
Archer also revealed an overtime shift at the unstaffed Zeehan ambulance station was cancelled days before a man died in the West Coast town on Saturday.
“Further attempts were made to fill the vacant shift through the usual well-established backfilling processes, but unfortunately these attempts were not successful,” she said.
The man, believed to be in his 60s, waited 78 minutes for a crew from Burnie, about 140 kilometres away, with Queenstown and Strahan crews attending other cases.
Asked by Bass MP George Razay about the Australian Medical Association Tasmania’s call last week for a commission of inquiry, Archer said one would be costly and slow.
“A costly, years-long inquiry would not help a single Tasmanian patient get the care that they need when they need it,” she told parliament.
She said it could cost more than $30 million and would duplicate past reviews and a Legislative Council inquiry underway.
Labor leader Josh Willie, speaking about the Zeehan death, reminded Archer she had told Tasmanians last month that if they needed an ambulance, they would get one.
“He needed an ambulance, why didn’t he get one?” Willie asked.
Archer did not say how many shifts had gone unstaffed on the West Coast this year or whether Zeehan would be staffed this weekend, citing the challenges of recruiting to remote areas.
Willie told the house right to information documents obtained by Labor showed paramedic overtime cost $12.7 million last year, with $7.1 million budgeted this year.
“How many more Tasmanians have to die before you stand up to Treasurer [Eric] Abetz’s cuts?” he asked.
Archer told Willie the question was “beneath you” and the government wanted to reduce reliance on overtime by recruiting permanent paramedics.
“It is a demand-driven system and so at times where that overtime needs to be extended, of course it will be. And that is true right across the healthcare system,” she said.
Greens health spokesperson Cecily Rosol told parliament the budget showed ambulance funding falling next financial year and asked the minister to commit to annual increases.
Archer did not commit, saying the government was investing $776.6 million in ambulance services over four years.
She also told parliament the next phase of the transfer of care protocol, the government’s so-called ‘ramping ban’, had been delayed after the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) applied to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission to suspend it.
