10 March 2025 · Tasmanian Times
A UTAS teaching hospital could transform Tasmanian health
Hobart Private’s trouble is a chance to build a local pipeline of doctors and nurses. Satellite care in the regions, including Ouse. Build for generations, not the next election cycle.
The ailing Hobart Private Hospital could be an opportunity to develop a research and teaching hospital to underpin Tasmania’s health system needs.
Tasmania’s healthcare system has become reliant on short-term solutions — foreign-trained professionals and temporary staff — that do not address the root cause: a lack of long-term, locally trained healthcare workers.
By integrating a hospital into educational and research infrastructure, UTAS could build a sustainable pipeline of locally trained professionals. Graduates who complete placements and residencies here are more likely to stay.
Satellite facilities in partnership with the state government could see Ouse Medical Centre open its doors again to those 1,000 displaced patients.
The Gold Coast University Hospital is a working example: a teaching and specialist facility with expanded services, more graduates, and a research path.
With 48,000 new people calling Tasmania home from 2016–2021, this population growth is unsustainable in terms of our current health care capabilities. It’s time we build a better future for generations to come rather than what’s best for the next election cycle.