In one door, out the other seems to be the motto for Tasmania's health system, unfortunately that describes the experience for staff, and not patients.
An RTI obtained by Labor has revealed that over 1,429 workers left the Tasmanian Health Service between July 2023 and May 2024 - a turnover rate of just over 11%.
230 nurses left the THS in 2019-20, with another 410 leaving in 2023-24* which is an alarming 78% increase.
A total of 1756 nurses left the THS between 2019-20 and 2023-24. 129 Ambulance staff left between 2019-20 and 2023-24 which is almost a quarter of the amount currently employed by the THS.
These figures make it clear that the Liberal minority government has made it harder for health workers to remain in the THS and have failed to improve working conditions for staff.
It also means the government has had to employ record numbers of locum doctors and agency nurses-which cost 2-3 times more than permanent staff-and spend huge amounts on expensive advertising campaigns.
The 2024-25 budget includes $600 million worth of cuts to the Health Department, so it's impossible to see how working conditions in the THS are going to improve under the Liberal minority government.
Tasmanian Health workers do an incredible job under incredibly difficult conditions and it's time they had a state government that fought to improve working conditions and provided them with the resources they need to do the job.
Ella Haddad MP
Shadow Minister for Health
