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Acute Health Services Group

The mission of the Acute Health Services Group is to work together to provide quality hospital and ambulance services.

Within this Group there are five Business Units:

• Royal Hobart Hospital
• Launceston General Hospital
• North West Regional Hospital (Burnie)
• Tasmanian Ambulance Service
• Forensic Medical Services
• Professional Services & Advice (PSA)

The Group provides a wide range of hospital based treatment. Care is provided from the Royal Hobart Hospital, the Launceston General Hospital and the North West Regional Hospital at Burnie.

Tertiary services are provided in limited locations and include neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, neo-natal intensive care, vascular surgery, specialised paediatric surgery and a severe burns unit.

Secondary hospital services such as general medicine and general surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology, and paediatric services are more widely available Statewide.

Acute Health Services cannot be viewed in isolation. A hospital system will only be efficient if there is coordination between hospitals, aged, community and primary health care, and other ambulatory services.

Current trends in health service delivery in other States of Australia demonstrate the benefits of integrating and partnering with other service providers. These relationships can produce continua of care that take the patient from an inpatient to a community setting supported at the level they require to maintain independence and self-management of chronic disease conditions at home.

Key service associations include the integration of inpatient and community/primary health services and public/private partnerships.

Some hospital services are purchased from the private sector. Major contracted patient services include maternity services (North West Private Hospital), and ophthalmology (Tasmanian Eye Clinic, Launceston Eye Clinic and North West Private Hospital). Diagnostic pathology and imaging services are also contracted for the North West Regional Hospital, as are nuclear medicine services at the Launceston General Hospital. There is also a partnership between the Royal Hobart Hospital and the Hobart Private Hospital in respect of some patient care and support services.

The Tasmanian Ambulance Service provides emergency ambulance care, rescue and transport services and a non-emergency patient transport service through a network of 46 stations State-wide. It also coordinates other providers of road ambulance services as well as fixed and rotary wing air services. Tasmania has a wide dispersal of highly qualified paramedics throughout urban and rural areas across the state. There are also over 500 volunteer ambulance officers who either provide support and work alongside paramedics in 13 stations, or respond from 23 wholly volunteer stations in smaller rural and remote areas including King, Flinders and Bruny Islands.

The Output Group maximises health gains by ensuring access to quality, best value hospital and ambulance services that meet individual and community need. It also contributes to the quality of life of people with disability and chronic illness by the provision of appropriate acute services as required.

Outputs provided under this Group are:

• Clinical Support Services – health professional services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, podiatry, social work, and nutrition;
• Medical Services – includes general and specialist medical services, medical outpatient clinics and emergency medicine;
• Surgical Services – emergency and elective
  surgical services including services contracted to the private sector and surgical outpatient clinics;
• Womens’ and Children Services – includes obstetrics and gynaecological services, neo-natal intensive care, paediatric surgery and medicine;
• Diagnostic and Pharmacy Services – pharmacy, pathology and imaging services;
• Ambulance Services – includes emergency ambulance care and rescue and transport services to all urgent and priority cases including medical emergencies, road accidents and industrial and other accidents including marine emergencies. A specialised non-urgent patient transport service is also provided between private and public hospitals, nursing homes, private residences, diagnostic facilities and other institutions; and
• Forensic Medical Services – includes forensic medical services, forensic pathology and clinical forensic medicine.