Hospital services in Tasmania

Abstract

Tasmania's hospitals, as in most jurisdictions in Australia, have been undergoing significant changes in organisational basis, type of funding base, range and distribution of services and funding models over the past decade. There has been a return from regional to statewide reporting and accountability. There is a greater diversity of funding types, from pure public provision through co-location of public and private facilities, to thecontracting-out of hospital and rehabilitation sevices to market providers. The development of telehealthtechnology is also adding new facets to the relationship between health professional, client/patient and the state.Given these changes, the account of Tasmania's hospitals given here is necessarily that of a snapshot in a dynamicorganisational landscape.