The latest annual report from the Department of Health reveals just how broken the Tasmanian health system really is.
Labor Shadow Health Minister Sarah Lovell said Will Hodgman's systematic underfunding and budget cuts mean hospitals are incapable of meeting their own performance targets.
The statewide target for elective surgery to be performed on time is not less than 90 per cent. The actual last year was 58.2 per cent.
"This is an unacceptable result which means that Tasmanians are waiting in pain for surgery.
"It is people like burns victim Spencer Connelly who suffer as a result of these shocking statistics.
"Category 1 patients are not supposed to wait more than 30 days for surgery. Instead they are waiting up to 686 days or nearly two years.
"The wait for category 3 patients is 850 days.
"The situation is not much better in the Emergency Departments of our major hospitals with only 51.6 per cent of patients who present to the Royal Hobart Hospital seen within recommended timeframes. We know that 1800 people waited more than 24 hours for a bed last year.
"The Liberals are cutting the health budget further this year, including slashing elective surgery activity by 15 per cent. That means the emergency in out hospitals is going to get worse, not better."
Sarah Lovell
Shadow Health Minister
