Archer won’t say how many nurses she’s cutting

Tasmania has the oldest and sickest population in the country, and in the last month two Tasmanians have tragically died waiting for an ambulance. Yet, the Liberals are pushing ahead with $700 million in cuts to the health system.

Today, staff at the Royal Hobart Hospital are taking action over plans to cut nurses from the Emergency Medical Unit. Nurses will stop work, and doctors are backing them.

Bridget Archer has refused to say how many nurses will go.

The Emergency Medical Unit takes pressure off the whole hospital. It gives patients the care they need while freeing up emergency department and ward beds, which means ambulances can offload faster and get back on the road. Cutting its staff will only make ramping worse in a system that is already overstretched.

Our nurses and doctors cannot keep absorbing the pressure while this gutless government strips away the resources they need to care for patients.

Minister Archer should be ashamed to back in Eric Abetz’s health cuts while Tasmanians aren’t receiving the care they need.