Tasmania Health Department Unveil New Inter-Hospital Transfer System

Health Department Secretary Kathrine Morgan Wicks has unveiled a new patient transport system which is expected to improve patient wait times and cut down on ambulance ramping.

The state government will now avoid transferring hospital patients via emergency departments in an attempt to limit ambulance ramping. 

The move is part of a new inter-hospital transfer policy which will see some patients pushed straight past the emergency department.

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Over the month of May, the health department at Launceston General Hospital were forced to ask patients to reconsider attending the emergency department if their injuries were not considered life threatening.

In a bid to curb extended wait times, the new policy will prevent patients transferred from other hospitals from being clinically assessed multiple times, freeing up room in emergency departments for waiting patients. 

Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said in a statement that the new changes will allow for a smoother handover process between hospitals. 

"(The new policy) will not only ease the pressure on our emergency departments, but it will also help address broader access and flow challenges in our hospitals and support an efficient patient handover process between ambulance and hospital staff,” he said.

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