The parents of a toddler who died at Northern Beaches Hospital and exposed concerns about its public\/private model have applauded a proposed $190 million government deal to wrest back control.<\/p>\n
The entire hospital will move into public hands, after the state government reached an in-principle agreement with the receivers of cash-strapped private operator Healthscope.<\/p>\n
Taxpayers will fork out $190 million to take control of all 494 beds, while clinical and support staff will be offered jobs with NSW Health.<\/p>\n
Since its opening in 2018, the hospital has operated under a public\/private model, with Healthscope providing care to public patients under a contract with the government.<\/p>\n
However, the death of two-year-old Joe Massa last year exposed a series of deficiencies, leading the state government to negotiate taking back control of the hospital.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Toddler Joe Massa died at Northern Beaches Hospital last year. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Premier Chris Minns said his government was reversing one of the “worst decisions” of the previous Coalition government, which he said had “foisted” a private hospital model on the people of the Northern Beaches.<\/p>\n
“Our state’s acute hospital services, that provide lifesaving care to the people of New South Wales, should not be privatised,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Thanks to this decision, no hospital in NSW will be.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Minns confirmed this morning the government would pay $190 million to take over the hospital.\u00a0 (ABC News: Ethan Rix)<\/p>\n
He also paid tribute Joe Massa’s parents, Elouise and Danny, who have campaigned for the hospital to return to public hands.<\/p>\n
“Their advocacy will leave a lasting legacy for every patient and every family who relies on our public health system,” Mr Minns said.<\/p>\n
Ms Massa said her son’s case was not isolated and his love had given the couple the “fierce determination” to fight for the change to the operating model of the hospital.<\/p>\n
“We don’t want anyone else going through what we have gone through \u2014 the absolute torment, the heartbreak,” Ms Massa told the media, while holding Joe’s shoes.<\/p>\n
“I believe it’s also Joe’s love that has guided the government to ensure that public safety is at the forefront of all decision-making at Northern Beaches Hospital and beyond.<\/p>\n
“Joe will leave behind footprints that we will never forget in NSW.”‘Complex’ change<\/p>\n
The Northern Beaches Hospital. (ABC News: Nicolle Chettle)<\/p>\n
In September, the government announced NSW Health staff had been embedded within the hospital, to begin its transition to public hands.<\/p>\n
However, Health Minister Ryan Park has repeatedly spoken of the difficulties in taking back a “public portion” of the hospital, while leaving another portion for a private provider.<\/p>\n
AMA NSW president Kathryn Austin urged the government to explain what the move to making the hospital a “fully public operation with ‘private services'” will mean in practice for patients, staff and service providers.<\/p>\n
Mr Park said on Tuesday the operating model and partnerships with private providers at the hospital had not yet been settled but he did not foreshadow a reduction in services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park with Elouise and Danny Massa. (ABC News: Abbey Haberecht)<\/p>\n
Mr Park said navigating the change in hospital structure and management had been “complex” and “challenging” and the deal was an “important step forward”.<\/p>\n
“It [the deal] marks the beginning, not the end, of what will be a change in model of the way in which that hospital works,” he said.<\/p>\n
He said he did not have an overall cost to the government for taking over the hospital.<\/p>\n
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the $190 million deal would just cover the money spent to build Healthscope’s facilities, not past or future profit, in a departure from the initial contract.<\/p>\n
The in-principle agreement will now go to Healthscope lenders group for approval, Mr Mookhey said.<\/p>\n
Many of the hospital’s facilities are shared, creating significant challenges when it comes to the division of assets.<\/p>\n
While bringing the whole hospital into public control will eliminate that uncertainty, it will raise more questions about the future of the specialist services currently offered at the facility.<\/p>\n
NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association general secretary Shaye Candish said it had been an “extremely unsettling and stressful time” for staff at the hospital and welcomed the proposed deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The parents of a toddler who died at Northern Beaches Hospital and exposed concerns about its public\/private model…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,26295,42415,44,42416,2733,16862],"class_list":["post-228703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chris-minns","tag-healthscope","tag-news","tag-northern-beaches-hospital","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}