Key Points
A Rebecca White Labor Government will increase services available at 23 Community Health Centres around the state.
Labor’s plan will:
- Employ 46 extra nurses
- Provide free health checks for adults, teens and kids
- Provide palliative care, community nursing and home visits for patients
Every week, a plane load of young people leaves our state. We must offer better incentives for them to stay and work in Tasmania.
Why we need it
Tasmanians deserve free, quality healthcare close to where they live.
We have an ageing population with a high level of chronic disease. Our GPs and hospitals are overloaded with work.
By providing free health checks at Community Health Centres, conditions can be caught early and treated quickly.
In addition to health checks, nurses can provide home visits and community nursing to those who cannot get to clinics. They can also provide palliative care support for patients who are more comfortable at home.
Adult Health Checks
We will offer free general health checks to adults aged 40-75yo once every 5 years.
Many warning signs of conditions, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, do not have symptoms and may be caught quickly.
This check up will focus on precursors to chronic illness that is prevalent in Tasmania. This may result in:
- Early detection for better outcomes and potentially to save lives.
- Reducing risk of developing diseases like diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.
- Cost savings by preventing more serious and costly medical interventions later on.
Preventative health checks are an essential component of proactive healthcare, helping individuals stay healthy and catch potential problems before they become serious. With Tasmania having the highest rate of chronic illness in Australia we must do all we can to reduce it.
Pre-Schooling Check
We will offer pre-school health checks for 4-5 year old kids to look for early behavioural issues or risks of learning disability.
Generally, the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome is likely to be for kids and families.
We want kids to have the best start to schooling they can.
Teenager Health Check
We will offer free health checks for teenagers to talk openly about mental health and healthy lifestyle.
The details
Labor will resource 23 Community Health Centres across Tasmania with an additional two nurses.
These staff will conduct health checks and basic examinations on Tasmanians who need it, close to where they live, so any issues are picked up before they become too acute.
They will also be available for expanded palliative care community nursing and home visits for those who are receiving Hospital in the Home support.
Labor in Government will also immediately review all community nursing positions, including Child Health and Parenting Service nurses, to ensure the salary and conditions are competitive with other states.
Community Health Centres
A Rebecca White Labor Government will increase services available at these 23 Community Health Centres around the state:
Braddon
Burnie CHC Central Coast CHC- (Ulverstone)
Devonport CHC
James Muir CHC –(Wynyard)
Rosebery CHC
Strahan
Bass
Kings Meadows CHC
Ravenswood CHC
Lyons
Bridgewater/Brighton CHC
Central Highlands CHC
Longford CHC
Sorell CHC
Swansea CHC
Triabunna/Spring Bay CHC
Westbury CHC
Clark
Glenorchy CHC
Franklin
Bruny Island CHC
Clarence ICC
Clarence Plains/Rokeby CHC
Cygnet CHC
Huon CHC
Kingston CHC
Risdon Vale
What people say about it
“Health Consumers Tasmania welcomes the announcement by Labor to provide free health and wellbeing checks to all Tasmanians,”
“If we are serious about fixing our health system, investing in keeping people well and out of hospital is both critical and necessary.”
- Bruce Levett, CEO, Health Consumers Tasmania