The Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff must urgently outline what steps he will take to address the gap in critical mental health services that will follow the closure of St Helen's Private Hospital in Hobart.
Healthscope's decision to close St Helen's at the end of June is terrible news for workers and those who rely on the mental health services it provides, particularly those mothers and babies who need additional support through the state's only mother and baby unit.
Cate Grant, who has assisted numerous mothers and babies as a doula in Hobart has described the closure as catastrophic, saying it will leave vulnerable mothers and their babies without appropriate inpatient support.
"The dangers of this should be obvious to everyone," Ms Grant said. "And in the absence of the St Helen's mother and baby unit, the government needs to step in and at the very least ensure mother and baby unit beds are made available in the public system.
"With a close relative who receives regular mental health care from St Helen's, both as an inpatient and an outpatient, this closure is also a disaster for anyone in the south who needs psychiatric or mental health support.
"The public system is completely failing Tasmanians and this just compounds the stress for people living with mental ill health, who are now scrambling to find treatment alternatives in an already underfunded and under-resourced system."
Labor urges the state government to urgently commit to rolling out public mother and baby unit beds statewide and to commit to a start date.
The failure of the Liberal Government to prioritise maternal and mental health services over the past 10 years has led to this situation and the government needs to act now before it becomes even worse.
Anita Dow MP
Shadow Health Minister
Josh Willie MLC
Labor Member for Elwick
