2024-03-05
Cecily Rosol | Lead Candidate for Bass
Forty nurses and midwives would be recruited to the Launceston General Hospital each year until 2030, under a plan to invest in repairing the health system launched by the Greens today.
“I’ve seen firsthand as a nurse in the LGH the distress staff are in because their workloads are unmanageable. This is a direct result of decades of underinvestment in recruiting and retaining staff.
“We’re as close as we’ve ever been to a tipping point beyond which our healthcare system cannot recover, and it’s clearly time to change that.
“Short-term thinking on healthcare is a political choice, and one that has been made repetitively by the Liberals.
“We don’t shy away from the fact that our plan to invest in 40 new nurses and midwives to the LGH each year until 2030 is going to take a big investment, but that’s what the current crisis demands.
“Our plan would address staff shortages by paying off staff university debt, improving leave entitlements, and providing government housing. It would grow the overall pool of nurses working at our hospital, and create important new roles such as nurse navigators in the emergency department to help with patient flow.
“We don’t need a billion-dollar stadium in Hobart, we need to fix the health crisis - starting with fixing the nursing shortage and improving support for the nursing and midwifery workforce here in Launceston.”