Tasmanian Business Reporter November 2018

6 Tasmanian Business Reporter - NOVEMBER 2018
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Prevention best cure
for state’s health woes
Paul
Lupo
CEO, StLukesHealth
TASMANIANS generally
consider themselves
to be in good health but
when you look at the statistics,
it tells a different
story.
ABS data shows that
compared with the rest
of Australia, Tasmania
has higher rates of chronic
disease like arthritis,
asthma, heart disease and
mental issues.
It is a sobering reality
check and leaves little
wonder why our health
system is under so much
stress and why the need
for private health insurance
is so strong.
At St.LukesHealth we
believe it’s necessary
to balance the immediate
requirements for
treating disease with a
longer-term sustainable
solution of preventing
it, and its pleasing to see
great work is being undertaken
by another notfor-profit
organisation in
Tasmania, the Royal Flying
Doctor Service.
While the RFDS is
known for its aeromedical
service in transferring
patients from remote
places to hospital, its
footprint on the ground in
Tasmanian communities
is quite large.
The RFDS runs a Primary
Healthcare program
in Tasmania aimed at improving
both the mental
and physical health
outcomes of those living
with chronic health conditions.
The service is
delivered in remote and
rural communities with
a holistic approach to a
person’s well-being.
In a recent conversation
with John Kirwan,
CEO of the Tasmanian
RFDS, he mentioned
that there was a significant
correlation between
physical health and mental
health.
“An example would
be a middle-age woman
with depression who is
taking medication, but
this medication causes
her to put on weight,
causing her to lose more
self-confidence. Often
our mental and physical
health workers will work
with the client at the
same time to achieve the
best possible result,” Mr
Kirwan said.
“We are focusing on
hospital avoidance.”
The service also runs
a dental program that
visits schools and community
health centres
allowing those who cannot
visit regional centres
with the opportunity to
receive treatment.
The demand has been
significant, with the
RFDS’ two dental teams
delivering more than
1500 treatments to 1200
patients on the North
West Coast in the past 18
months.
“A lot of it is access,
they will have a visiting
service but for a lot of
people it is about money.
Getting to a dental clinic
is hard if both parents
are working or if there
are transport issues,” Mr
Kirwan said.
Dental disease is one
of the largest preventable
hospitalisations in
Tasmania with the biggest
cohort being young
women and children.
It is one reason why
St.LukesHealth places
so much emphasis on its
RFDS dental assistant Taneesha Torlach.
Gap Free Preventative
Dental offer to its members.
Mr Kirwan said dental
disease should not
result in hospitalisations
because it is almost 100
per cent preventable and
if people were in hospital
as a result, then they
were taking up valuable
room for other patients
with non-preventable
conditions.
“Our focus in the (dental)
program is on prevention
and promotion
and educating kids about
looking after their teeth.
If we can do that it stops
some of the longer-term
problems,” Mr Kirwan
said.
While primary care is
not often seen as an exciting
area of medicine,
the focus needs to shift
from treating disease to
preventing it.
Our focus must move
towards prevention if
we are to achieve better
health outcomes for Tasmanians.
www.tcci.com.au
Warning on
water deal
Scott
Bacon
Shadow Treasurer
WHILE Labor reluctantly supported the water and
sewerage changes in Parliament, it did so while
sounding the warning that the key issues facing the
sector remain, despite the ownership changes.
At the last election, Labor proposed a way forward
for three vital infrastructure projects – Macquarie
Point, Launceston’s combined system and
Cameron Bay (to allow for MONA stage 2) – by
seeking investment from industry superannuation
funds to break the water and sewerage deadlock in
the state.
With the election in the rear-view mirror and
the Government’s changes passing Parliament, we
would hope that by the next election due in 2022
these projects will be well advanced, if not completed.
We’re concerned that the deal provides not a single
cent of new money for water and sewerage infrastructure,
despite funnelling $200 million of taxpayers’
money into the business.
The information memorandum provided to owner
councils by TasWater shows the business restricted
by more debt, lower revenue and higher interest
costs. Specifically, the deal:
• does not provide a real cost decrease for TasWater
customers;
• provides no extra funding for water and sewerage
infrastructure;
• violates TasWater’s long-term financial plan,
moving its interest cover ratio out of recommended
parameters;
• creates a governance nightmare with a complicated
ownership structure and deadlock arrangements;
• provides no dividend certainty for councils; and
• erodes the independent role of the Economic
Regulator.
The deal delivers $200 million of taxpayers’ money
into TasWater, but costs the company $236 million
in lost revenue over the life of the deal.
The water and sewerage industry is telling me that
it desperately needs funding for new infrastructure.
Countless independent reports reaffirm this.
For all of the criticisms of TasWater over the past
few years, it has already succeeded in having all
boiled water alerts removed across the state.
The challenge for TasWater will be to continue to
operate with immunity from any political considerations
from its new owners, the Tasmanian Government.
Water and sewerage investment must be
made on the basis of sound business cases and in the
strategic interests of the Tasmanian economy.
In-house invitation for safety system input
A REQUIREMENT of
the Workplace Health
Act is to provide a safe
system of work.
To ensure that the Person
Conducting a Business
or Undertaking
(PCBU) is able to fill
these requirements of the
Act, it is imperative that
a Workplace Health and
Safety Management System
(WHSMS) is developed
for the workplace.
You can have a system
developed by an external
consultant or develop it
yourself.
A system developed in
house seems to work successfully
as all the stake
holders can have input
ensuring commitment to
the system.
A WHSMS consists of
Craig
Hortle
Workplace Health & Safety
the following:
• Policy – a simple
statement that indicates
your commitment to the
activity;
• Procedure – this
states how you are going
to implement the policies
that you have decided on;
You can have a system
developed by an external
consultant or develop it
yourself.
• Recording method –
this how you record the
information from your
procedures.
The policies that
should be included in all
WHSMS can be:
• An overarching WHS
policy;
• An induction policy;
• A safe system of
work policy;
• An incident management
policy;
• An emergency situation
policy.
Depending on the type
of work your business
undertakes and your
workplace, there will be
a number of other policies
that you will have
to implement to ensure
compliance under the
legislation.
The areas out of the
Act a WHSMS will help
you comply in are as follows:
3) Without limiting
subsections (1) and (2),
a person conducting a
business or undertaking
must ensure, so far as is
reasonably practicable –
(a) the provision and
maintenance of a work
environment without
risks to health and safety;
and
(b) the provision and
maintenance of safe
plant and structures; and
(c) the provision and
maintenance of safe systems
of work; and
(d) the safe use, handling
and storage of
plant, structures and substances;
and
(e) the provision of
adequate facilities for
the welfare at work of
workers in carrying out
work for the business or
undertaking, including
ensuring access to those
facilities; and
(f) the provision of any
information, training,
instruction or supervision
that is necessary to
protect all persons from
risks to their health and
safety arising from work
carried out as part of the
conduct of the business
or undertaking; and
(g) that the health of
workers and the conditions
at the workplace
are monitored for the
purpose of preventing illness
or injury of workers
arising from the conduct
of the business or undertaking.