Bill Shorten has promised $15 million to build a new mental health hub and 25-bed unit in Launceston if Labor is elected in the upcoming election.
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The hub would be built close to the Launceston General Hospital and replace the Northside ward, the opposition leader announced on Saturday.
It would provide acute care and facilities for group care, day programs and outreach services.
The plan builds on Labor's proposal to give north and northwest Tasmania 24/7 access to stroke-specialists as part of a scheme to roll out telehealth technology to regional hospitals across the country.
Sites near the current hospital, within the Launceston Health Precinct, will be considered for the new hub.
Labor has also committed an extra $30 million to halve the state's elective surgery backlog, $4.5 million to restore Tazreach - a program bringing specialists to regional areas of the state - and $1 million for a new reproductive health hub.
Mr Shorten told reporters the announcement was part of "the next stage" of Labor's health plan to provide more funding for specialist support.
He said the Medicare cancer care package announced in his budget reply had "put some hope back into the system".
A Labor government would also boost the number of specialised cancer nurses across Australia.
The number of federally-funded prostate cancer nurses would be doubled - meaning an extra 42 nurses nationwide, he said.
A Shorten government would invest in 24 metastatic cancer nurses in hospitals across the country, would fund Breast Cancer Network Australia to deliver a phone counselling service, and provide $4 million for a pancreatic cancer patient hub.
Australian Associated Press
