LGH Downgrade: RosemaryArmitage

It is incredulous that Premier Paul Lennon could say that there has been no downgrading at the Launceston General Hospital (The Examiner, Dec 6) and that his Government remains committed to the LGH as a teaching and research hospital.

The fact that we have only one locum medical oncologist, one cardiologist, no vascular surgeons and are under funded to the tune of $20 million is testament to downgrading. Not to mention the rumour that a whole surgical ward is to be closed early next year.

How can Health and Human Services Minister Lara Giddings say that she is unable to source a medical oncologist despite advertising, when in Britain there is an abundance of qualified, English speaking oncologists looking for work?

There are also two vascular surgeons only too willing to come to the LGH.

What happens if our only cardiologist decides to leave the LGH, do we not replace him and thus lose one more essential service in Launceston.

No, Mr. Lennon, the LGH is not being downgraded, it is simply very quickly turning into the regional hospital that your health bureaucrats down south believe it should be.

It is now time to talk with our new Federal Labor Government and hope that some of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s promises can be realised with regard to health. If we leave it until 2009 for them to look at saving our public hospital, it will more than likely be too late for the LGH to ever fully recover.


RosemaryArmitage

Launceston General Hospital Support Fund

B&E LTD have set up a special account into which donations to the LGH Support Fund can be made. The fund has been set up to enable members of the community to make contributions towards a fund that will be used to meet special needs within the LGH that cannot be covered within the hospital’s normal operating budget.

Contributions to the LGH Support Fund can now be made at any B&E LTD Branch.

The collection taken up at the City Park Appeal Concert has provided $1,170 towards this fund and the Riverview Hotel Social Club has contributed a further $500.

Please make the existence of this fund known within your circle of friends.

EXAMINER LGH UPDATE 12/12/07

Danielle Blewett’s story in The EXAMINER (11/12/07) “Paperwork issue is costing the LGH - 'We will look to see if the procedure could be streamlined' is very concerning (THE URL FOR THIS STORY IS: http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/news/local/health/paperwork-issue-is-costing-the-lgh-we-will-look-to-see-if-the-procedure-could-be-streamlined39/1102231.html)

In this story Danielle Blewett reports that there was “an oversight [which] means [that] the Launceston General Hospital could be spending up to $100,000 a month because its only medical oncologist does not have a Medicare prescriber number ... A Medicare prescriber number allows doctors to write prescriptions that are then paid for by the Commonwealth.”

IF the $100,000 estimate is indeed realised in one month that would represent the annual salaries of probably two administrative staff members. It would also represent a very significant amount of medical supplies of one kind or another.

What is almost more concerning is that within the administration, what seems to be going on is some shoulder shrugging and the saying of “oops we will look into how all this has happened and how it can be fixed”

In Danielle Blewett's follow up story "Prescriber number in the pipeline" (URL http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/news/local/health/prescriber-number-in-the-pipeline/1103046.html) she reports that:
• oncologist Dr Andreas Weisser has been issued with a Medicare prescriber number;
• that it has been confirmed that the pharmaceutical division of Medicare would be giving Dr Weisser a prescriber number; and
• that it will just a few day before Dr Weisser can write prescriptions,"

Presumably, all the while that this is all being played out bureaucratically, the amount by which the LGH’s deficit (under funding?) grows and remains largely unaddressed. It also seems that this goes on while the hospital’s administration, and probably the health department too, awaits the assumed (anticipated?) arrival of the federal Labor Government’s White Knight on his/her charger carrying a rescue package.

For now, there doesn’t seem to be a desk upon which “the buck stops” nor does it seem that there is any real imperative to be resolving the LGH’s core administration and funding issues in the context of community needs.

Reading these stories together, it also seems there is an administrative culture of cost and blame shifting at work while the state health funding budget shrinks. The messages coming out of the ‘health system’ in Tasmania seems to be "trust us we are working on it and a solution is at hand."

However and interestingly, in another story by Alasdair MacDonald on DEC 12 "Birthday bash raises big bucks to buy equipment" (URL http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/news/local/health/birthday-bash-raises-big-bucks-to-buy-equipment/1103044.html ) it seems that the community go on doing what it can besides paying its taxes to ensure that LGH can deliver the kind of service it needs and wants.

Here, as a result of private fundraising effort the LHG’s Children's Ward has a $10,000 a crash cart with a defibrillator, an ECG monitor and a pulse oximeter.

The community in northern Tasmania can only hope that the hospital’s administration, the state government and its health department will continue to see this kind of funding as “icing on the cake” rather than the means by which key items of equipment are acquired.

MIXED MESSAGES IN THE EXAMINER DEC 10

Firstly, there was a letter from Trevor Allen asking people to “Get behind the right people to fix LGH …. saying … Just imagine the LGH not being able to handle emergencies in the ways it has in the past. Imagine that you are involved in an accident of any kind in Launceston. …and also saying … northern Tasmanians need to get behind Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten, and LGH clinical staff.”

Then Raelene Morey reported on the start of employment for new nurses - Permanent positions for casuals with Stephen Ayre saying … “10 of the hospital's existing casual and temporary nursing staff would be offered permanent positions as part of the State's new three- year Nursing Enterprise Bargaining Agreement… and in the coming weeks the hospital would also offer positions to nurses on its employment list, which includes the names of about 15 nurses not currently working at the hospital".

Only four nurses would be employed in the intensive care unit, despite calls by Australian Nursing Federation branch secretary Neroli Ellis saying that up to 17 nurses were needed.

State Opposition health spokesman Brett Whiteley criticised the Government for overlooking the need for more nursing staff in the ICU but said "nothing surprises us anymore when it comes to the State Government".

And beside the fact that future development was flagged in Danielle Blewett’s story” Hospital senior managers call for five-level tower.” The story flagged the fact” the LGH will have a new $12 million department of emergency medicine by 2010, the hospital's department of surgery is calling for a broader development to cope with projected increased demand over the next 15 years.”

It reported that Professor Berni Einoder, Dr George Merridew and other senior members of the department called for the construction of a five-level tower….. “[that] needs to be functional within five years,"

The story reported that “Department of Health and Human Services deputy secretary Simon Barnsley confirmed that a site master planning exercise was under way for the new department …. and that Building is likely to start in 2009.”with a development application to be lodged with the Launceston City

Despite the flagged developments at LGH, in summary, and reading between the lines, it seems that the LGH is still in financial trouble despite new nursing positions being confirmed albeit if a third were already on staff and Intensive care would remain at a contentious staff level. Debt alleviation seems as far as it was last week.

The cynical could be excused for thinking there is a lot of smoke and mirrors in the bureaucratic decision making at LGH.

TASMANIAN LIBERALS ACCUSE ALP OF BEING MISLEADING OVER MERSEY HOSPITAL FUNDING

The ABC reports the Tasmanian Opposition as saying “at least one level of the Labor Party is misleading people about where savings from the Mersey hospital takeover will be spent.”

The report quotes State Minister, Lara Giddings, as saying she has already given $8 million to the Royal Hobart Hospital, and that will not be reversed.

It also reports Liberal Health spokesman, Brett Whiteley, as saying "we have Sid Sidebottom, and now today (Wed Dec 5, 2007), Jodie Campbell, giving an absolute assurance that every cent will be now spent in the north and the north-west …. and … Lara Giddings told 5,000 people in Launceston that would be the case - 2 days later, backflipped on that."

LGH Supporters seem to have good reason to be confused about, or even to be mistrustful of, government assurances in regard to the LGH’s status in the Tasmanian health system.

ABC REPORTS ON MAYOR’S MEETING WITH PREMIER

The Premier Paul Lennon and Tasmania's Health Minister were warned that the Launceston General Hospital is getting deeper into debt each year when they met with Mayor Albert Van Zetten yesterday (Des 5).

Ald. Van Zetten received assurances that the hospital would not be downgraded but he warned the Premier and the Health Minister that the hospital's mounting debt, now more than $20m, must be cleared.

Ald. Van Zetten’s concern is that the hospital’s debt is “accumulating, and therefore each year it eats into the budget for the next year”.

Arguably, this has had the effect of restricting the hospitals capacity to deliver the level of services northern Tasmanians need. Without a doubt, this situation is effectively downgrading the LGH.

To put all this in some perspective, senior clinicians at the LGH, Prof. Einodor among them, have been saying much the same as this for some time. Indeed, Prof. Einodor made the assertion at the Appeal Concert in City Park on Sunday that “ The LGH is not operating in deficit, rather it is under funded.”

Prof. Einodor also indicated that the $8m due to come to the LGH was more likely to be used to offset the deficit than it might be used to address issues that had arisen due to the under funding and thus the debt.

GO TO: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/05/2110830.htm to make a link to the ABC story online.

The meeting was also reported in today's Examiner GO TO: http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/news/local/health/no-response-to-mayor39s-funds-query/1099439.html to make a link to the story.

Desperate Times at the Launceston General Hospital

The Launceston General Hospital’s Emergency Dept. says that its staff is in desperate need of a fridge for staff food. You see they don’t want get ill and they do want to continue to treat the sick !

Presumably they have drawn this to the bureaucrats' attention and have received a rebuff. Alternately, it may well be the case that a bureaucratic culture has emerged within the hospital that deters staff from making such requests no matter how reasonable or necessary they may be.

In any event it speaks volumes about the state of affairs that exist in our hospitals and the levels to which the bungling has sunk.

Now that the news is out a few things need to be done. Firstly, let’s assume that the emergency staff really do need this refrigerator. Secondly, let’s discover what sort of refrigerator best fits their needs.Thirdly, let’s find a sponsor to fix the problem.

Let’s just cut through and fix this problem ASAP!

After that, well the NEWS about this needs to spread far and wide so that people in northern Tasmania, and the politicians who represent them, can start to get a handle on just how bad, and silly, things are getting at the Launceston General Hospital.

Key Launceston General Hospital stories in the Examiner for November

Hospital bed block is a major concern - By DANIELLE BLEWETT
30/11/2007 1:41:50 PM | News - Health - Health
PATIENTS do die and others take longer to get better because of bed block in Tasmania's hospitals, Professor Drew Richardson, of the Australian National University Medical School, said yesterday. [ more ]

New $29m Launceston cancer unit opened - Julian Burgess
30/11/2007 10:57:32 AM | Breaking News - General - General
[ more ]

Bed block killing Tasmanians, says report - Danielle Blewett
29/11/2007 3:26:39 PM | Breaking News - General - General
[ more ]

Concert of support for Launceston hospital - Danielle Blewett
28/11/2007 11:14:52 AM | Breaking News - General - General
[ more ]

Lennon calls crisis meeting on LGH - Danielle Blewett
27/11/2007 3:05:10 PM | Breaking News - General - General
[ more ]

LGH `bed block' crisis passes - Danielle Blewett
27/11/2007 2:25:37 PM | Breaking News - General - General
[ more ]

HOSPITAL IN CRISIS
Details of care centre still not clear - By DANIELLE BLEWETT
27/11/2007 11:57:22 AM | News - Health - Health
THE HEALTH Department has no idea how much Launceston's Integrated Care Centre will cost, when it will be built, what services it will offer or where it will be, according to Health Minister Lara Giddings. [ more ]

HOSPITAL IN CRISIS
Seriously ill left to wait for 48 hours - By DANIELLE BLEWETT
27/11/2007 11:55:17 AM | News - Health - Health
A MONSTER bed block at the Launceston General Hospital at the weekend saw seriously ill patients waiting up to 48 hours or longer on trolleys in the emergency department, hospital sources say. [ more ]

Fassett hails LGH nurse breakthrough - Danielle Blewett
22/11/2007 3:56:53 PM | Breaking News - General - General
[ more ]

Tasmanian nurses dispute resolved -
21/11/2007 2:51:54 PM | Breaking News - General - General
[ more ]

2007 FEDERAL ELECTION
Black hole claim on hospitals -
19/11/2007 10:03:50 AM | News - Politics - Politics
CANBERRA - The Coalition has tarnished its economic credibility and put health services at risk after failing to set aside money for its hospital boards plan, Labor says. [ more ]

To find the stories please go to the LINKs for a link to The Examiner of go to: http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/

LGH APPEAL CONCERT

The Appeal Concert with Jon and Col in Launceston's City Park Sunday December 2 was an opportunity for the LGH Support Group to bring Launcestonians and others up to speed in regard to how things stand at the LGH.

Launceston’s Mayor, Albert Van Zetten, Deputy Mayor Rosemary Armitage and the LGH’d Director of Surgery Berni Einoder plus other senior doctors were in attendance.

The hospital’s director of surgery, Berni Einoder, made some salient points.

Firstly he said that the hospital not running over budget, rather it was underfunded.

He also made it clear that the clinicians at LGH did not want to see the hospital downgraded in the way the Health Department’s bureaucracy seemed to be proposing it should be.

Professor Einoder put the recent nursing staff upgrade in perspective. He said that the 29 nurses the government had agreed to fund immediately really meant 11 new nurses as this funding included for 18 nurses who were already at LGH on various short-term contracts.

He also said that immediately actual translates to approximately six weeks in bureaucratic terms.

Professor Einoder said that Launceston General Hospital’s real needs are:
• 56 additional nurses;
• A $50 million cash injection: plus
• A budget increase.
He said that, "We need a minimum of 56 nurses to get back to square one". He also said a $50-$60 million cash injection was needed to "fix things up" and after that there needs to be a realistic annual budget.

Professor Einoder said that "fixing up" included the appointment of more staff, the purchasing of more equipment plus the repairing of equipment and systems that had been run down over the years of underfunding.

It also seems that the 8Million dollars that will come to the LGH as a consequence of the Federal Government’s takeover of the Mersey Hospital would now be used by Tasmania's Health Department to offset the LGH’s
‘deficit’. This is rather than come directly to the hospital to help address the many issues it is currently trying to address.

Launceston’s Mayor, Ald. Van Zetten reported that he and Council’s General Manager Frank Dixon would be meeting with Premier Paul Lennon about LGH issues this week. He said he intended to outline community concerns and "hear their (the government’s) side of the story". "We do not want to see downgrading at the hospital," he said.

The LGH Support Group Chairman, Ald. Armitage, thanked Jon and Col for their sponsorship of the Appeal Concert and their help in sending the message that the community wants its hospital to be properly funded and adequately staffed.

LGH APPEAL CONCERT

The Appeal Concert with Jon and Col in Launceston's City Park Sunday December 2 was an opportunity for the LGH Support Group to bring Launcestonians and others up to speed in regard to how things stand at the LGH.

Launceston’s Mayor, Albert Van Zetten, Deputy Mayor Rosemary Armitage and the LGH’d Director of Surgery Berni Einoder plus other senior doctors were in attendance.

The hospital’s director of surgery, Berni Einoder, made some salient points.

Firstly he said that the hospital not running over budget, rather it was underfunded.

He also made it clear that the clinicians at LGH did not want to see the hospital downgraded in the way the Health Department’s bureaucracy seemed to be proposing it should be.

Professor Einoder put the recent nursing staff upgrade in perspective. He said that the 29 nurses the government had agreed to fund immediately really meant 11 new nurses as this funding included for 18 nurses who were already at LGH on various short-term contracts.

He also said that immediately actual translates to approximately six weeks in bureaucratic terms.

Professor Einoder said that Launceston General Hospital’s real needs are:
• 56 additional nurses;
• A $50 million cash injection: plus
• A budget increase.
He said that, "We need a minimum of 56 nurses to get back to square one". He also said a $50-$60 million cash injection was needed to "fix things up" and after that there needs to be a realistic annual budget.

Professor Einoder said that "fixing up" included the appointment of more staff, the purchasing of more equipment plus the repairing of equipment and systems that had been run down over the years of underfunding.

Launceston’s Mayor, Ald. Van Zetten reported that he and Council’s General Manager Frank Dixon would be meeting with Premier Paul Lennon about LGH issues this week. He said he intended to outline community concerns and "hear their (the government’s) side of the story". "We do not want to see downgrading at the hospital," he said.

The LGH Support Group Chairman, Ald. Armitage, thanked Jon and Col for their sponsorship of the Appeal Concert and their help in sending the message that the community wants its hospital to be properly funded and adequately staffed.

EXAMINER STORY 28/11/07

28 November 2007
Urgent talks on LGH - Launceston council to meet Premier, Health Minister
By DANIELLE BLEWETT

THE DIRE budget position of Launceston General Hospital has prompted Premier Paul Lennon and Health Minister Lara Giddings to agree to meet Launceston City Council Mayor Albert van Zetten in Hobart next week.
Ald. van Zetten, the council's general manager Frank Dixon and Deputy Mayor Rosemary Armitage will attend the meeting. ................

The Editor, Examiner, Launceston.

Dear Editor,

Wasn't one of Mr Lennon's election promises that his government would commit to the safe nurse per patient model? For the State Government to offer 3.25 conditional on the removal of the safe staffing benchmarks in the nurses' current EBA is nothing short of disgraceful.

As ANF Branch Secretary Neroli Ellis says, the nurses' industrial action is more about keeping safe nurse to patient ratios in the EBA than money. Shorter patient stays meant patients recovered at home, rather than languishing in hospital, but they require a higher level of nursing care.

Our nurses, like our doctors and other hospital staff, work tirelessly to ensure that all patients in our hospitals receive the best possible care, but there comes a time when nurses realise to continue with the current conditions, when some are working 17 hours straight, often in acute care areas, is simply not safe.

Every day the nurses are being made out to be the bad guys in all this with "nurses vote to close one in five beds" and "nurses vote for more bans", but let's put the blame where it fairly rests - the State Government - not the nurses.

Health Minister Lara Giddings maintains the pay offer is fair - I also recall hearing her saying "not one cent from the sale of the Mersey Hospital would go south".

Please Mr. Lennon, Ms. Giddings and Mr. Aird, have the courage to admit when you have made a mistake, think of the health of the people of Tasmania and honour your commitment. If you actually looked at the elective surgery cases being turned away and other patients being refused beds, as real people and took the time to meet them and hear their stories, I am sure even the hardest heart would melt and that you would provide our hardworking nurses with the pay and conditions they so justly deserve.

Yours sincerely,

Rosemary Armitage

Please use the comments section attached to make your comments and/or alert readers to new information.

MISSING AND INACTION

It is devastating for the health and well being of the people of Northern Tasmania and the moral of LGH staff, that yet another highly skilled professional in Professor Rob Fassett, Director of Medicine is leaving the LGH.

Professor Fassett cannot be readily replaced and he has worked tirelessly to retain and regain services at the LGH. The hospital has been dealt a very severe blow and while our State Government continue to say they have no intention of downgrading, the results are exactly that.

While positions such as Oncologist and other medical staff can be advertised, who in their right mind would accept an appointment at a hospital with such an uncertain future as the LGH. Mr. Aird stated on the 24th September that the LGH is a non negotiable cornerstone of Tasmania’s public hospital system and that it will remain so long into the future. Perhaps his Cabinet needs reminding of this.

One wonders if this latest blow is the Government’s way of deflecting attention away from the nurses’ industrial action? When in fact all the nurses are doing is working to rule and refusing to perform extended overtime that would endanger patient safety.

Our local members Jim Cox, Michelle O’Byrne and Michael Polley cannot remain silent any longer. They must now stand up and be counted for the people who elected them. This hospital is crucial to the whole State, whether Hobart bureaucrats believe it or not. It is without question the best performing hospital in Tasmania and has a greater amount of referrals than other Tasmanian Hospitals, and irrespective of the views of some, the LGH is and must remain a major provider of tertiary services.

On Sunday afternoon, 2nd December, 2007 in Launceston City Park, the LGH Support Group will be facilitating an “Appeal for the LGH” with well known artists Jon & Col providing entertainment. Medical Practitioners and others will also be provided with an opportunity to address those present.

Rosemary Armitage
Chairman – LGH Support Group

Please use the comments section attached to make your comments and/or alert readers to new information.

PETITION

PLEASE GO TO THE LINKS SECTION TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FORM
Currently there is a petition being circulated in support of the LGH. The petition aims to demonstrate people’s concern for the “serious financial plight of the Launceston General Hospital and the health and welfare of the people of the North, North east and North West of the State of Tasmania, in that many hospital beds are closed along with an Operating Theatre causing long term pain and suffering in the Community along with the threat of further bed closures.”

It is now available for download vis this site and it will be available for signature at the LGH APPEAL with Jon & Col Sunday Dec 2 at City Park. It is currently in various places, including Launceston Council’s service desk at Town Hall and LGH supporters are encouraged to sign the petition and ideally collect signatures as well.

The LGH Support Group would appreciate people printing out OR collecting copies of the blank forms from Town Hall so that they can take them away and collect signatures. Please return completed forms to Ray Marsh, 68 Gleadow St Invermay 7248 or Ald. Rosemary Armitage, Launceston City Council by 29th February, 2008 at the latest.

Please use the comments section attached to make your comments and/or alert readers to new information.

The LGH Support Group

In the near future the LGH Support Group will be opening an account with “B&E, (the account should be opened next week) run by Rotary South, with 2 senior medical clinicians as signatories.

It will be at the discretion of the doctors as to how best to use the money raised. (It will be spent within our LGH)

The LGH Support Group is not a fund raising group. It is quite simply a means to bring continual attention to the LGH. To that end we would hope that donations can be made through B&E to the appeal following our concert in the park and help the hospital in some small way.

Watch this space, and the comments section attached, for more information!

Rosemary Armitage
Chairman, LGH Support Group

Please use the COMMENTS facility attached to this item to post news items and make comments relevant to supporting the LGH.

There will be an “Appeal for the LGH” in Launceston City Park on Sunday the 2nd December 2007.
Commencing at 3.30 p.m., the crowd will be entertained by well known entertainers “Jon and Col”, who have generously donated their time. Medical practitioners and others will be given the opportunity to address the gathering.

While there will be no entry fee, donations can be made to the LGH Appeal – to assist the LGH, monies distributed at the discretion of senior clinicians.

As a community we must continue to DEMAND a fully funded, fully staffed and equipped Hospital for Northern Tasmania and we cannot allow further downgrading of OUR hospital.

We encourage the community to bring a blanket and picnic, come along and support OUR wonderful hospital and its staff on Sunday afternoon, 2nd December.

Rosemary Armitage
Chairman, LGH Support Group

Please use the comments section attached to make your comments and/or alert readers to new information.