Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, the Royal Hobart Hospital lost its accreditation for psychiatric medical training. This is beyond embarrassing. It's a disaster. It's come just days after nine mental health patients were left stranded in the emergency department for an entire weekend because there were no spare beds. Clearly, we need action now on mental health. It's ludicrous that it only gets half the amount of funding compared to that for physical health, and that's just the start. The Tasmanian government must give health reform a much higher priority. They say they have, but the evidence is that they haven't. They simply must do this for Tasmanian patients and the long-suffering staff who are sick and tired of plugging the gaps.

Beyond this, we need national reform and, in particular, one level of government responsible for hospitals. But, with both the state and federal governments involved, it's a complete circus that is overly complicated and totally inefficient. There must be greater investment in prevention. Currently, wellness programs only get two to three per cent of the funding when we know that every $1 spend on prevention returns $5 to the taxpayer. There must also be greater focus on primary health care, with GPs receiving just 17 per cent of the federal health budget even though GPs see over 85 per cent of Australia's population every year. Tasmanians deserve a first-world health service, not the shambles we're lumped with.