No details have been provided on how long the repairs will take or how much they will cost.<\/p>\n
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The Australian Medical Association believes repairs at St Luke’s could take months.\u00a0 (ABC News: Ashleigh Barraclough)<\/p>\n
Australian Medical Association (AMA) Tasmanian branch president Michael Lumsden-Steel believed the figures could be significant.<\/p>\n
“The intelligence I’m hearing suggests those theatres are not able to be readily fixed and restored,” Dr Lumsden-Steel said.<\/p>\n
“We’re talking more than weeks to restore those theatres. It could be months.”<\/p>\n
This week, Calvary introduced longer surgical days at St Vincent’s Hospital, and from this weekend will introduce Saturday theatre lists.<\/p>\n
Micro tears found in hospital floor<\/a><\/p>\n The shutdown of Calvary St Luke’s Hospital will affect 40 planned surgeries this week, with 22 of those reallocated to nearby St Vincent’s Hospital.<\/p>\n Dr Lumsden-Steel believed interim measures at St Luke’s were also being explored, such as setting up demountable operating theatres.<\/p>\n He said the incident raised questions about Calvary’s long-term future in the region, given the potential cost of repairs.<\/p>\n “They are not saying that they are walking away from it,” Dr Lumsden-Steel said.<\/p>\n “But we do understand that when you’ve got aging infrastructure \u2026 it’s very expensive now to undergo significant maintenance and rebuilds.”Calvary posts years of deficit<\/p>\n Financial documents show Calvary Health Care, a non-profit that operates hospitals and aged care facilities across six Australian jurisdictions, has run at a loss since 2019.<\/p>\n It reported deficits of $377 million in 2023 and $143 million in 2024.<\/p>\n The company has not provided its 2025 financials or financial data for individual hospitals.<\/p>\n Asked how it planned to fund repairs at St Luke’s, a spokesperson pointed to the group’s $123 million in non-drawn borrowings as of June 2024, and said the figure was expected to be slightly higher in 2025.<\/p>\n Calvary St Vincent’s Hospital is about 1.5 kilometres from St Luke’s Hospital in Launceston.\u00a0 (ABC News: Ashleigh Barraclough)<\/p>\n Tasmania’s largest private health insurer, St Luke’s, said it had been asking questions of the company since last year, when Calvary Health Care abandoned long-awaited plans to build a new private hospital in Launceston<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The Launceston facility has been an issue over time and we’ve certainly had deep discussions with Calvary around the lack of the investment in that facility,” St Luke’s chief executive Paul Lupo said.<\/p>\n “[Calvary] assured us they were committed to the area and they would be investing further in those two campuses [St Luke’s and St Vincent’s hospitals].<\/p>\n “Considering this issue that’s just arisen, we’ll be going back again to Calvary.”<\/p>\n Paul Lupo wants assurances about Calvary St Luke’s Hospital. (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n A Calvary Health Care spokesperson said it remained committed to the Launceston region and was looking at options for the short and long term.<\/p>\n But some want further assurances.<\/p>\n “We want to see some action on the ground rather than just verbal commitments,” Mr Lupo said.<\/p>\n Dr Lumsden-Steel asked: “What is Calvary’s long-term strategic plan for continuing to provide these services in Launceston?”.<\/p>\n Worries patients will ditch private health<\/p>\n There are early plans for two new private hospitals to be built in Launceston in the coming years.<\/p>\n New Launceston private hospital a step closer <\/a><\/p>\n A plan that will enable a state-of-the-art medical facility with 10 operating theatres, a laboratory, pharmacy, helipad and a bridge to Launceston’s public hospital is unanimously supported by all Launceston councillors in a vote.<\/p>\n The state government wants to partner with a private operator on a 250-bed complex, next to the Launceston General Hospital.<\/p>\n The Launceston Health Hub has plans to build a new private hospital in Launceston<\/a> in two stages \u2014 the first with 20 beds and the second with more than 100 beds.<\/p>\n Launceston Health Hub proponent Jerome Muir Wilson believed demand for the city’s existing private hospitals would remain once his hospital proposal eventuated.<\/p>\n But he did not yet have enough detail about the state government’s proposal to gauge its potential impacts.<\/p>\n Dr Muir Wilson worried that issues with Calvary could see locals ditch their private health insurance or that health workers would move away.<\/p>\n Dr Jerome Muir Wilson plans to build a new hospital in Launceston in two stages.\u00a0 (ABC Northern Tasmania: Fred Hooper)<\/p>\n He said if that happened, it would add pressure to an already-strained public system.<\/p>\n “The public [system] is already full with big waiting lists, so if private patients suddenly become public there’ll be huge public and private wait lists,” he said.Concerns over ‘sustainability’ of private practice<\/p>\n Calvary Health Care was not alone in its challenges, with the collapse of Australia’s second-largest private hospital group<\/a> earlier this year raising questions about the sector.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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