The $21 million Glenorchy Health Centre has been a massive boost for the community, with 21,000 appointments already completed in its first six months.
Today, I officially opened the centre, which provides care for Tasmanians in Hobart’s northern suburbs, Brighton, Derwent Valley, Southern Midlands and Central Highlands.
About 150 patients are seen every day and those numbers are growing. Not only does the centre provide vital in-community care for thousands of Tasmanians, it also takes pressure off our hospitals, especially the Royal Hobart Hospital.
Services at the centre include physiotherapy, oral health, occupational therapy, renal self-dialysis, pathology, child health and parenting services, podiatry, youth health and social work, making Tasmanians’ lives better. It also caters for a mix of visiting services, such as speech pathology, wound care and continence, and community nurses.
The centre is set to expand in the near future with new services, such as a diabetes review clinic, paediatric clinics and lymphedema services.
In addition to its vital health role, the centre has bookable space for the community to come together in a central and comfortable space.
Service planning for the health centre found these communities have high rates of chronic ill-health, emergency department presentations and hospital admissions.
The Glenorchy Health Centre dovetails with the Clarence Integrated Care Centre to bring health services closer to the communities in which Tasmanians live.
Our health targets include:
- Reducing smoking rates to below the national average by 2025, and halve the gap between State and national youth smoking rates (for under 25s)
- Reducing Tasmania’s rate of obesity to below the national average by 2025
- A 20% reduction in the suicide rate by 2022
- 90% of Tasmanians being treated within clinically recommended timeframes for their elective surgery by the end of the next four year term of Government
- 90% of emergency presentations being in and out of the Emergency Department within four hours by 2022
- Reducing emergency ambulance response times to national average waiting time by 2025
See all our targets at https://www.tas.liberal.org.au/sites/default/files/BuildingYourFuture.pdf
