A southern Tasmanian woman has gone public with her experiences in the Royal Hobart Hospital, describing the health system as similar to a third-world country when it comes to wait times and patient safety.

Fran Spears, from Kingston, said she ended up with deep vein thrombosis after a hip replacement in 2015, and was taken to the Royal.

"I was there for nine hours before they found a bed for me, and seven hours before they actually got a doctor to treat me," Ms Spears said.

Recounting a more recent experience, Ms Spears said she called an ambulance twice in June this year and was attended by a lone paramedic, but she said it was three hours from the initial call until she finally got in an ambulance.

Ms Spears said the ambulances were ramping when she arrived, and she then waited 34 hours in the emergency department before getting a bed.

She said she was put in a room with a mentally ill patient, who got into bed with her.

"And I was too sick, I couldn't get out of the bed," she said.

"My son got him out of the bed and we called the nurses."

She sat up all night worried about her safety, but it was not until the following day that nurses agreed to move her to another room.

Ms Spears, who is in her 60s, said health staff did their best but they were run off their feet and the hospital was filthy.

"It's like it's a third-world country and I'm too scared to get sick now," Ms Spears said.

"I don't want to be sick because I don't want to go to that hospital."

Ms Spears spent 34 hours in the Royal's emergency department. ( ABC News )

Ms Spears said she spoke with Premier Will Hodgman about her initial experience in 2015.

Ms Spears also received a response from Health Minister Michael Ferguson at the end of July, after she wrote to the Premier with her more recent complaint.

In Mr Ferguson's email, he said he was sorry Ms Spears had experienced the issues she described.

Mr Ferguson acknowledged there had been a high level of emergency calls on the day Ms Spears required an ambulance and that had resulted in "a period of 1 hour and 50 minutes elapsing before an Extended Care Paramedic attended".

In a handwritten message that formed part of his response to Ms Spears, Mr Ferguson said there was a lot to do.

"We do care and I assure you I'll never stop working to continually improve our system and services," he said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said she was not surprised to hear of Ms Spears' experiences.

"We get approaches from members of the Tasmanian community every day, several times a day - people who have had similar experiences to Fran where they've been badly let down by the health system,"" Ms Lovell said.

Pressure on Health Minister to continue

Over recent weeks, Health Minister Michael Ferguson has had a press conference gate-crashed by an obstetrician, nurses have stepped up industrial action and more than 100 plasterers have walked off the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment after weeks of non-payment.

Michael Ferguson admits the health system is not perfect but says it's in better shape than Labor left it. ( ABC News: Georgie Burgess )

Labor has started a petition to have Mr Ferguson removed as Health Minister, and Ms Lovell said he would be under more pressure in Parliament this week.

"Because Tasmanians are absolutely fed up with the state of the health system and the absolute lack of response or action from this Health Minister," she said.

Greens Leader Cassy O'Connor agreed Michael Ferguson would be a target in Question Time.

"He's got something close to a revolt in the public health system right now and staff on the frontline under extreme pressure," Ms O'Connor said.

Mr Ferguson said Labor's health policies were a "dog's breakfast".

"You left the health system in a terrible mess, the Government's rebuilding it, it's not perfect [but] it is better and we have a $757 million plan to make it much much stronger," Mr Ferguson.

"Of course it's getting better, people seem to have short memories."