News and alerts

Smoky conditions are expected to continue during the bushfires and may affect different places in Tasmania over the coming days. Director of Public Health, Dr Mark Veitch, has reminded Tasmanians how to stay safe if it is smoky from bushfires.

The Department of Health has announced it is working with external engineering experts to develop a permanent solution to temperature control issues in older parts of the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) site and will implement the recommendations once received.

A series of hot days are forecast across Tasmania this weekend and early next week. Director of Public Health, Dr Mark Veitch reminds Tasmanians about how to stay safe in the hot weather.

The kayaker who was rescued from the Franklin River in November during a 20-hour rescue operation is being discharged from the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) and is returning home to Lithuania.

Dozens of medical interns - or first year doctors - have started their professional journeys across the State’s public hospitals this month. 

Congratulations to the winners of the Royal Hobart Hospital’s 2024 Medical Officer of the Year award, which recognise doctors-in-training who have made an exceptional contribution to health services in southern Tasmania.

Tasmania’s first identical triplets in many years were born to Keely Walsh and Mathew Alves at the Royal Hobart Hospital on 02 January 2025. It is incredibly rare to naturally conceive identical triplets, and the baby girls could well be the state’s first identical triplets in a decade. They’re also among the first babies of the new Generation Beta.

The final report of the independent investigation of maternity services at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) has been released, highlighting an ongoing commitment to the continuous improvement of health services provided in Tasmania.

Tasmanians are reminded that Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) will be open throughout the holiday season, with the Department of Health releasing the top three most common reasons why people in Tasmania present to UCCs.

Tasmanian parents and carers of young children are reminded to be alert to the dangers of button batteries this festive season.

Volume 1, No 2 - November 2024

The Department of Health is encouraging all Tasmanians to be aware of the right healthcare treatment option for their needs over the festive period.

The Public Health alert advising against swimming in the River Derwent, issued on Thursday 19 December, has been lifted for all locations except the western end of Bellerive Beach.

Tasmanians are being reminded to prepare for a healthy Christmas and New Years’ by visiting a pharmacy for certain treatment options and health advice.

Read about Pharmacy/medicines and poisons regulation- Notification of Forged Electronic Prescriptions

Low vitamin D is an important public health issue and is common in Tasmania. In summer around one third of Tasmanian teens and adults do not have enough vitamin D (blood levels less than 50 nmol/L) and in winter and spring this increases to around two thirds.

Sixteen qualified paramedics have joined Ambulance Tasmania, relocating from interstate and overseas. After completing a four-week orientation program, they will begin providing life-saving care across Tasmania later this month.

The new state-of-the-art hospice in Launceston has taken another important step forward, with release of concept designs.

Eleven new midwives have been welcomed to the health system, ready to care for the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies across the State.

A new Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) has opened in Bridgewater, expanding access to fully bulk-billed care for Hobart’s northern suburbs.