A day after a scathing assessment of the care and staff crisis at Royal Hobart Hospital by emergency department registrars, Tasmania's Health Minister has brought forward a meeting to address the problems — but it is still not soon enough, with flu season imminent, clinicians warn.

Key points: The Health Minister has brought forward a summit to address problems at the Royal Hobart Hospital

The Health Minister has brought forward a summit to address problems at the Royal Hobart Hospital The announcement comes a day after a scathing five-page open letter from RHH Registrars to management about the devastating effect of a lack of beds

The announcement comes a day after a scathing five-page open letter from RHH Registrars to management about the devastating effect of a lack of beds The letter stated there were "many examples" of patients dying or being injured because of bed block and ambulance ramping

The announcement on Twitter by Michael Ferguson on Easter Sunday that he would move a "solutions" meeting to June follows a damning letter from Emergency Department registrars to the hospital's management, alleging abundant cases of direct patient injury and death, resulting from "access block".

The no-holds-barred, five-page letter said "extreme access block" and ambulance ramping were having a "devastating effect" on patients, and the registrars "will no longer be silently complicit in sub-standard patient care and an unsafe work environment".

Mr Ferguson acknowledged he had rescheduled "in part" due to the letter and said he had a positive telephone discussion with the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine president Dr Simon Judkins, agreeing to co-host the summit which was originally scheduled for the end of the year.

"In part yes and in part no, we've been working together for months now and there's already been plans for a gathering later in the year but we've agreed to bring it forward to June," Mr Ferguson told the ABC today.

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The minister did not deny the existence of the problems raised in the letter, including abundant cases of direct patient injury and death, but said he was not an expert on those matters.

"But I accept the obvious arguments that if we can improve access to in-patient beds in a more timely way, it means that we can reduce waiting times and improve the level of care that's provided."

"Any feedback is welcome and I'm as concerned as anyone else about lack of access to beds that's our group is putting together an access solutions meeting, with the right people at the table so we can find more solutions."

Doctors welcome summit, but warn no 'magic wand'

In a statement, the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) faculty chair Dr Marielle Ruigrok said the "community has a right to good emergency care and the emergency department needs the resources to be able to provide it".

Medical staff tend to patients in a crowded corridor at the Royal Hobart Hospital in 2018. ( Supplied: Nadine Cotton )

"We still want patients with emergencies in their health to come to the emergency department and not be so frightened that they delay attendance or seek inappropriate care," she said.

ACEM president Dr Simon Judkins said his organisation had been "outspoken about the need for action around the core issues of staffing levels and increased bed capacity in wards of all hospitals across Tasmania, regardless of what time of year it is".

"The answers lie outside the emergency department. Changes need to be made immediately and must include the clinical leaders and directors of in-patient units, including those in the sub-acute areas, to see what they can do to create capacity on the wards.

"Without their engagement, leadership and ideas, we will see more patients dying waiting for care."

Dr Judkins said the summit would be looking at:

how to increase in-patient capacity,

how to increase in-patient capacity, discharge planning,

discharge planning, how to decrease length of stay; and,

how to decrease length of stay; and, managing patients as out-patients rather than in-patients

June too far away: staff association

Chairman of the Royal Hobart Hospital's staff association Frank Nicklason said he was pleased Mr Ferguson had recognised the concerns raised by registrars.

Dr Simon Judkins says it was time to "clearly define what the solutions are". ( Supplied: Australasian College for Emergency Medicine )

"It shows he's taken on board the concerns that have been reasonably expressed by the registrars," Dr Nicklason said.

"They've been very careful to delineate the problems, but they've come up with solutions, I think they deserve credit."

But Dr Nicklason cautioned that June was still over a month away.

"It's always better to be a be ahead of the game and June is still a long way away. We may well be well into the flu season by then, so that is difficult," he said.

But Mr Ferguson said the summit was not a rush job.

"There's a lot of work to do in the meantime, I've given a commitment to the College that we'll work together on the best evidence base, so that the meeting can have reliable, accurate information," he said.

"Additionally the College will use this time to work with its members and invite some experts to the table."

The Tasmanian Coroner's office last week confirmed it was investigating the death of a 71-year-old man in the hospital's emergency department 12 days ago.