Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the time available to me this afternoon I would like to speak about some of the challenges facing my regional community in relation to access to health care. My community is served primarily by a tertiary hospital called the Launceston General Hospital. It is now administered by the Tasmanian Health Service. I was fortunate in my legal career to have served on the governing council of the Tasmanian Health Organisation—North, which was previously responsible for the governance of the Launceston General Hospital.

We have significant areas of disadvantage within my electorate, particularly in the northern suburbs of Launceston and in the more remote areas away from the Launceston urban areas. Whether you are talking about somebody that suffers from particular disadvantage or somebody who has invested in private health insurance over an extended period of time, there are significant difficulties within my electorate in accessing both public and private health care. As a consequence of that, there are additional pressures upon the public system. We have problems with bed block and we have consistent reports about ambulance ramping at Launceston General Hospital. Of course, those who are familiar with Tasmanian media know that the issue of ambulance ramping affects all of the hospitals within Tasmania. But I'm not here, despite appearances, to simply criticise the Tasmanian Minister for Health, Michael Ferguson. I think it's necessary for there to be a bipartisan approach, not just in the political sense but also across the public-private divide, in the Northern Tasmania community to attract additional medical specialists to Northern Tasmania.

I will explain what the present problem we are facing really means. Because of loss of specialty from the Launceston General Hospital and because of the fact that the two private hospitals servicing the north of Tasmania are operated by the one entity, there is difficulty in attracting medical specialists to Northern Tasmania. Effectively that means that both the public and the private sector suffer from a lack of services and a lack of ability to deliver capacity into the health system in Northern Tasmania. What I would like to see is additional investment by both the public sector and the private sector in attracting talent to Northern Tasmania. What that means is that all levels of government—state, federal and local government—need to work together to attract medical specialists to Northern Tasmania.

In my former life I was able to act as legal adviser to a Tasmanian private health insurer. From that experience I know of some of the wonderful initiatives that private health insurers, both Tasmanian based and the larger operators, are offering to the market. A good example is the service that is now offered by St.LukesHealth. Because of the closure of private maternity services in Launceston, St.LukesHealth introduced an innovative postnatal service based out of the Charles Hotel, which is directly opposite the Launceston General Hospital. This was a fantastic example of both the public system and the private system working together to deliver alternative services to fill a gap in the market.

We also have significant issues with respect to access to mental health services in the north of the state. This is a pressing issue, whether you are in the public system or the private system. Again, it is incumbent upon both the public system and the private system to work together to solve this issue. I know that people of goodwill are able to work together and deliver local solutions within a regional community like Northern Tasmania. From my experience in serving on the board of the Launceston General Hospital, I know of the many fine people that serve in the administration and clinical areas within the hospital. We owe a debt of gratitude to the specialists, the nursing staff and the ancillary staff that provide our health care on a daily basis. It's vitally important that everybody works together. (Time expired)