Cygnet loses after-hours urgent care
Huon Valley’s only after-hours medical service will cease as part of Eric Abetz’s ‘operational efficiencies,’ otherwise known as health budget cuts.
Cygnet Family Practice Urgent and After-Hours Service has been recognised for its innovation, awarded by Medicare, and has been the only service of its kind in the Huon Valley for the past four years.
By conservative estimates, it saves the state budget around $1million annually by reducing presentations at the Royal Hobart Hospital Emergency Department and ambulance call-outs.
The majority of patients are treated by nurse practitioners and community paramedics – effectively a triaging system that clears the path for the most serious cases to reach hospital faster.
As a result of cuts in the recent state government budget, the service will cease from June 30, 2026.
New appointee to the Legislative Council, independent Clare Glade-Wright, was sharply critical.
“It is an incredibly poor decision to not continue to fund this vital after-hours medical service from the Cygnet Family Practice,” she said.
“We know how important this has been for the community down in southern Tasmania.
“In a time where the government should be looking for cost effective measures, this short-sighted removal of funding will end up costing us more in the long run.
“It’s not good for the community and it’s not a smart budget choice.”
Independent MP Peter George, a Huon Valley resident, said he would fight to keep the after-hours service running.
“The state government is planning to spend $15 million on building a medical hub in Huonville but that money could be far more wisely used to fund the sort of innovative practices that have served Cygnet and the wider community so well,” he said.
Kerrie Duggan, nurse practitioner and co-owner of the practice, is concerned about the impact of the closure on people in the Huon Valley.
“It’s really a drop in the ocean for a budget, and saving the government a fortune,” she said.
What the state government likes to call ‘operational efficiencies’, are cuts to services.
Over the next four years, $1.47 billion will be cut from Tasmania’s public service. Health, as the largest department, has been hit hardest – $700 million over four years, with $131 million falling in the 2026-27 financial year alone.
However, Health Minister Bridget Archer stated ‘there are no cuts to health’ saying that the money allocated to health goes up every year.
This is technically accurate – but the full picture is more complicated: while health spending is going up in dollar terms, it is not keeping pace with inflation or increasing demand.
It is like being given a pay rise, but with the cost of everything increasing, you can afford less.
The government is spruiking a ‘record investment’ of $15 billion into health, while failing to acknowledge that costs are rising faster than their funding.
The $15 billion would be far more impressive if inflation didn’t exist.
