Premier Jeremy Rockliff says the government must be “open and willing” to change after a second death involving ambulance delays, as Labor and the Greens call to stop health cuts.
A man, believed to be in his 60s, died at Zeehan on Saturday after waiting 78 minutes for an ambulance to arrive from Burnie, about 140km away.
The Department of Health said the Zeehan Ambulance Station “was not staffed at the time due to unfilled leave”, while crews in Queenstown and Strahan were attending other cases.
The department said the call was triaged as priority one, a Burnie crew was assigned straight away and attempts had been made to fill the vacant shift through overtime and volunteers.
It comes a fortnight after a man died when his family drove him to the Royal Hobart Hospital because no ambulance was immediately available, with the Health and Community Services Union saying three ambulances were ramped at the hospital.
Rockliff said “Both are tragic and our heart goes out to the families that are now grieving.”
Asked whether a broader independent investigation was needed given the two deaths, he said there “may well be unique circumstances” in both cases and the government would await the outcome of the investigations.
“We need to learn from the outcomes and invest in key actions, whether that be an investment of resources or indeed an investment in finding other ways to support regional crews,” he said.
Rockliff said “the investments and the protocols” in the government’s transfer of care policy “appear to be working,” saving 30,000 hours of ambulance time, but the government needed “to be open to doing more.”
“We take very strong lessons from such incidences and listen to the outcomes of the investigation and find better ways of servicing Tasmanians who are in need of emergency care,” he said.
Opposition leader Josh Willie said $700 million in health cuts would not help.
“Our health system is in crisis,” he said.
“It cannot withstand further cuts, things will only get worse.”
Willie said there was clearly “a big issue with our ambulance service and making sure that we have enough staff in regional areas” and the health minister “should be standing up to the treasurer.”
He said doctors had called for a commission of inquiry into the health system.
Greens Leader Rosalie Woodruff said the deaths were “horrifying” and the government had not implemented the recommendations of the ambulance ramping inquiry.
“We’re calling on the health minister to stop the cuts on the health system,” she said.
Both deaths are being investigated, with the department saying its investigation into the Zeehan death would “identify any immediate actions required.”
