Dr Darren Briggs | Lead Candidate for Braddon
The Greens call for the Liberals and Labor to get behind a plan for emergency teleconference facilities to be rolled out in small rural hospitals and for public remote area first aid boxes to be distributed to isolated communities.
These measures - backed by the Rural Doctors Association of Tasmania - are critical for connecting specialist doctors and nurses with GPs and rural nurses to assess, treat and manage seriously unwell emergency patients.
"I've worked as a doctor in some of Tasmania's most rural and remote public hospitals and at times have felt totally unsupported.
"I know I'm not the only doctor who has worked in remote Tasmania and been left feeling medically and legally vulnerable because we just don't have the resources we need to keep communities safe.
"Emergency teleconference facilities can be used to connect a specialist doctor to a remote emergency room via video-conference to assist general practitioners and nurses when they need it.
"From Queenstown to Smithton, emergency teleconference facilities would provide our GPs and nurses that work in our state's country hospitals with the support they need to look after our rural communities.
"Equipping Tassie's isolated communities with public remote area first aid boxes is another easy to implement measure to keep our communities safe. Numerous stories of survival can be attributed to the rollout of public remote area defibrillators, and I have no doubt that public remote area first aid boxes can do the same.
"These simple measures are backed in by the Rural Doctors Association of Tasmania and have been rolled out in remote areas on the mainland - it's time Tassie communities were afforded the same protection. Not only would they improve patient safety and management but would also encourage more GPs and nurses to work in the region - it's a win win."
