Tasmania’s nursing union says the state’s health system is in “disarray”, claiming the Launceston General Hospital can no longer safely meet patient needs.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) lodged an urgent application with the Tasmanian Industrial Commission on Tuesday after what it described as a week of chaos across the system.
It came hours before the Department of Health urged people without genuine emergencies to avoid the hospital because of capacity pressures.
The union said the LGH had been operating at critical capacity for more than four weeks, with just three beds available across the hospital when the application was lodged.
Branch secretary Emily Shepherd said staff had run out of options.
She said all flexible capacity had been exhausted, no private beds were available and every district hospital was already being used, but demand still could not be managed.
Admitted patients were being moved to wards without available beds, with some reportedly given doorbells to alert nursing staff when they needed help.
“Members were rightly concerned from ED to the wards that the LGH could no longer meet the needs of patients in a safe and appropriate way,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd said the North West Regional Hospital had also closed its intensive care unit on Monday afternoon because of insufficient medical staffing.
The closure forced critically ill patients to be transferred to other ICUs around the state. One was flown to the Royal Hobart Hospital.
“The fact that north-west Tasmania’s only ICU was closed due to insufficient medical staffing is outrageous,” Shepherd said.
“It shows a complete lack of resourcing and support to ensure that Tasmanians can reliably receive the level of care they need on the north-west coast.”
Health Minister Bridget Archer said the state government was taking “immediate, medium and longer-term action” to ease the pressure.
The government was working with private provider Calvary to transfer patients and bring additional beds online on Wednesday.
“There has been significant demand at the LGH overnight and we thank all our staff for the amazing work they are doing to see patients as quickly as possible,” Archer said.
“There is no doubt that bed block continues to significantly impact access and flow, with 22 long-stay patients currently stuck at the hospital – through no fault of their own – due to a lack of aged care and NDIS placements.”
Archer said construction was already underway on 20 additional aged care beds at the Launceston Health Hub, which were expected to open early next year.
She called on the federal government to help fund the step-down beds and address the broader shortage of aged care places.
“This is not about blame – aged care placements are clearly a Commonwealth responsibility and it’s absolutely appalling that they are happy to do nothing to fix these issues until the state is forced to step in,” she said.
“It is simply not good enough that the Commonwealth constantly wipes its hands of these issues and pretends that urgent care centres are where its responsibilities end.”
Department of Health secretary Dale Webster told ABC Radio demand was being driven by several factors, including winter respiratory illnesses and patients who could instead be treated by a GP or at an urgent care centre.
He said about 35% to 40% of people presenting to emergency departments could be treated in primary care settings.
Webster said demand appeared to be easing, but it would take two or three days for the hospital to return to an acceptable level.
Speaking in Launceston last week, federal Health Minister Mark Butler said he had been hearing the same stories about the LGH “for far too long”.
“It’s time that the Tasmanian state government set about doing the hard work of implementing systems,” Butler said, pointing to patient flow, staffing and recruitment as areas the state needed to address.
“We are providing record levels of funding to the Tasmanian government to run their important public hospitals.”
Greens health spokesperson Cecily Rosol said the state government “must act” on broader measures to improve patient access and flow.
She also called on it to reverse plans to find $700 million in budget efficiencies.
“The Liberals need to stop applying band-aid solutions to this dire situation and take real action to address the long-term problems that have led to this crisis,” she said.
Shepherd said the government had been warned for years about access and flow problems but had failed to act until the system reached crisis point.
She called on it to use the $980 million provided by the Commonwealth over the next four and a half years to address chronic capacity problems at the LGH.
“It is time the government took action, rather than passing the buck,” she said.
