As Tasmania’s public hospitals struggle with staff shortages and often overcrowded emergency departments, one private hospital could be offering some welcome relief. Hobart’s Calvary Hospital has returned its emergency department to a 24/7 operation. It is not a silver bullet, but doctors say it will ease some pressure.
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00:00After two years, Calvary Hospital's Emergency Department is packing away its clothes sign
00:08for good.
00:09We're really looking forward to sort of re-establishing ourselves as a fully functional
00:1424 hours a day, seven days a week emergency department and providing the care that we
00:19really want to deliver.
00:21In the face of staffing challenges, the hospital shut its ED on weekends in 2022.
00:27Now a partnership with a private medical specialist service, which will provide doctors,
00:33has turned that around.
00:34The doctors who are coming here will be here at least for two years with two year contracts
00:39and we believe that we will be able to attract more doctors and more medical staff as sort
00:45of the ED re-establishes itself.
00:48We have something between 25 and 40 patients a day currently.
00:52We expect those numbers will continue to come in and probably grow.
00:57The news has been welcomed by Tasmania's Doctors' Union, but with those attending the
01:01private hospital's ED needing to pay an upfront fee, they say there's only so much pressure
01:06it can take off the public system.
01:09We need more sub-acute beds.
01:11We need rapid access to the nursing home or aged care facility beds and we need to increase
01:16our rehabilitation capacity as well.
01:18It is not an insignificant contribution, but it's a small piece of the puzzle.
01:22Tasmania's ED will return to a 24-7 service tomorrow morning, the same day that nurses
01:27and midwives in Tasmania's public health system begin industrial action.
01:32They say they're overworked and under-resourced.
01:35The government says it will continue to work with the union.
01:39We admire the work that they do very much.
01:44The government's committed to working with the nurses and their representatives to work
01:48through the issues that they've got.
01:49A small step forwards, with a marathon still to run.