NSW Health Minister, Ryan Park, told hundreds of Beaches locals that the State Government would ‘do everything it can’ to put Northern Beaches Hospital public services back into public hands.
Minister Park was speaking at the Northern Beaches Hospital (NBH) forum on 14 May in Dee Why, also attended by NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, and hosted by Independent MPs Michael Regan (Wakehurst) and Jacqui Scruby (Pittwater).
“The NSW Treasurer and I have made a decision to try and right a wrong,” Minister Park said. “It’s not going to be easy, but we can get there. This is a model of health care that no longer works.”
Minister Park said new arrangements would ‘put safety first, safety second and safety third,’ and promised it would enforce nurse to patient ratios.
Mr Mookhey revealed that Healthscope had told the government, ‘You want us to leave, so pay us to go’, but that he was determined to ensure that ‘private equity should not get a windfall from the end of the partnership.’
He said his staff were working ‘around the clock’ on extracting the hospital from the public-private partnership (PPP) contract, although he said the timeline was ‘uncertain.’
Shadow Health Minister, Liberal Kellie Sloane, was also in attendance. The PPP was set up by the previous Liberal Government. Ms Sloane acknowledged the failure of the PPP and said she would ‘not make excuses for decisions of the past.’
She pledged Liberal support for finding solutions, but blamed Healthscope saying it had ‘fallen short of the trust that was placed in it by this community and by the former government.’
Elouise Massa, mother of toddler Joe Massa, who lost his life after attending NBH last year after a failure in the hospital’s Emergency Department protocols, also addressed the forum. Ms Massa described the failings of the PPP as ‘catastrophic,’ telling the audience it was time ‘to do what is right, just and good.’
Mr Regan said: “I’d like to thank the NSW Government for fronting up and genuinely giving their commitment to fix this mess they inherited. We will continue to keep the community informed, including more public forums as the situation evolves.”
Ms Scruby stressed that a return to public hands would not deliver improved services unless further operational investment was made.
“It won’t be enough to buy back the hospital – we need improvements and increases to services, and that will require additional operating expenditure.”
A parliamentary inquiry into the hospital is currently taking submissions until 20 May.
“It’s important that the committee conducting the inquiry hear our experiences and opinions,” Ms Scruby said. “Every submission can help improve the care our community receives at Northern Beaches Hospital.”
Submissions can be made here, on the Parliamentary Inquiry website.
