What the Tasmanian Liberals will do:

Provide $8 million for capital works at the Mersey Community Hospital to upgrade facilities and improve accident and emergency services.

The Tasmanian Liberals will spend $8 million over two years from 2010‐2011 at the Mersey Community Hospital to –

• Extend Theatre 3 and the recovery room ($2.5m);
• Relocate and improve the HDU ($1.5m); and
• Expand and reconfigure the accident and emergency facilities and develop a short‐stay unit ($4 million).

Short‐stay units are beneficial for patients who do not necessarily need to be admitted but who do need longer in the hospital environment for observation.

The Liberals believe there is a real need to ensure regional campuses including rural hospitals receive commensurate benefit to ensure regional equity, maintain viability and take the pressure off major acute hospitals that are also struggling to meet increasing demand.

A Hodgman Liberal Government is prepared to invest in improvements at the Mersey that will allow for greater volume and throughput of standard day surgery procedures, improve patient and staff surroundings and significantly improve the 24 hour accident and emergency facility.

Why this policy is needed:
The Mersey Community Hospital is an important part of the Tasmanian health network and is one of the major providers of acute health services in this State.

The Mersey is highly valued by the local community and is one of the largest employers in the region.

Demand at the hospital continues to increase, with overall admissions up by 1304 during the 2005‐06 to 2008‐09 period, day surgery cases up by 1716, acute medicine up by 1066 and emergency department presentations up by 2599 cases to 24,579.

The hospital has become the centre for public endoscopy services, public cataract surgery and public dental work in the region, a urology service has commenced and the oncology/chemotherapy unit is now operating 5 days a week. Minor orthopaedic surgery is now being undertaken at the hospital and this has had the benefit of freeing up additional theatre time at the North West Regional Hospital (Burnie) for major joint replacement surgery.

The Liberals have long supported the Mersey’s role as an integral part of the health service network on the North‐West Coast.

It was the Liberals who led the debate on the future of the Mersey with the release of our ‘belief’ statement in February 2007 – three months before the release of the Tasmanian Health Plan.

“We believe the Burnie and Mersey campuses of the North West Regional Hospital should remain open and there should be a strategic refocus of service delivery … the Mersey hospital should also have a focus on agreed areas of excellence”.
-Brett Whiteley and Jeremy Rockliff, Liberal Members for Braddon, Feb. 2007

This refocus is now paying dividends with higher admissions, more day surgery and increased emergency throughput.

After 11 years of Labor...
The Mersey Community Hospital has had a rocky road since the Tasmanian Government resumed management in 2004, and its future is still not secure. The hospital is now owned and funded by the Commonwealth Government, and managed by the State, although the Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, has refused to commit to funding the Mersey beyond the current three‐year deal ending in 2011.

Sadly, the capital infrastructure needs of the Mersey Community Hospital have also been largely ignored by the Federal Government. The Federal Budget 2009‐10 contained funding for hospital projects in Tasmania, but only in Hobart and Launceston.