{"id":871024,"date":"2026-08-28T04:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T04:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871024\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T04:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T04:04:12","slug":"accc-approves-sale-of-the-hobart-private-hospital-to-catholic-provider-calvary-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871024\/","title":{"rendered":"ACCC approves sale of the Hobart Private Hospital to Catholic provider Calvary Healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catholic provider Calvary Healthcare has received approval from the corporate watchdog to buy Hobart Private Hospital, despite concerns patients will no longer be able to access fertility services and gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n

Hobart Private is a private hospital co-located with and adjacent to Hobart’s main public hospital, Royal Hobart Hospital.<\/p>\n

The Hobart Private Hospital will now be the fifth hospital in Tasmania operated by Calvary, after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) gave approval to buy it from Healthscope.<\/p>\n

Calvary Healthcare currently operates St Vincent’s Hospital and St Luke’s Hospital in Launceston; and Lenah Valley Hospital and St John’s Hospital in the south.<\/p>\n

In May 2025, Healthscope’s parent entities went into voluntary administration, and receivers and administrators were appointed to conduct an orderly sale of the hospitals in its network.<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

Engender Tasmania says Calvary’s refusal to provide some health services is discriminatory.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

At its other sites, Calvary follows a Catholic code and does not allow vasectomies, gender-affirming care, surgical terminations, voluntary assisted dying or fertility treatments, including IVF.<\/p>\n

Concerns of service gap for Tasmanians<\/p>\n

Yalei Wilson, from advocacy group Engender Tasmania, said it was a disappointing decision.<\/p>\n

“We are very disappointed by the ACCC’s decision because it has failed in its job to protect consumers and the essential health services they deserve,” Yalei Wilson said.<\/p>\n

“Currently, Calvary hospitals do not allow gender affirming surgeries for trans and gender diverse people.<\/p>\n

“Hobart Private does allow such surgeries, so when Calvary takes over, we can expect gender affirming surgeries to cease.<\/p>\n

Hospital sale leads to concerns about private abortion access<\/a><\/p>\n

The operator of the Hobart Private Hospital has agreed to sell the facility to a Catholic healthcare provider, leading to concerns about access to surgical abortions, vasectomies and some other legal procedures.<\/p>\n

“This may mean trans and gender-diverse Tasmanians have to seek treatment interstate, at great expense to themselves and to the state government.<\/p>\n

“We urge the state government to step in and ensure existing services continue in Tasmania without disruption.”<\/p>\n

Yalei Wilson said Calvary’s refusal to provide some health services was discriminatory and in violation of the Anti-Discrimination Act.<\/p>\n

“We are also concerned that a Calvary takeover will make it harder for all Tasmanians, including LGBTIQA+ people, to access fertility treatments, contraceptive medication and surgeries, natal care and surgical terminations,” they said.<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

The Australian Medical Association says is it is worried some services will be harder for Tasmanians to access. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)<\/p>\n

“We have written to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner asking her to conduct an inquiry.”Better than nothing, says peak medical body<\/p>\n

The Tasmania branch of Australian Medical Association said it was concerning Calvary Healthcare now had a monopoly across private hospitals in Hobart and Launceston.<\/p>\n

AMA Tasmania president Dr Meg Creely told 936 ABC Hobart it was a worrying development.<\/p>\n

“As the ACCC pointed out, it is better to have a private hospital, than no private hospital but the monopoly this gives Calvary across Tasmania is concerning,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If you do want to access fertility services, termination and pregnancy, what are your options, to be able to access that?”Doctors worry about sale to Catholic provider<\/a><\/p>\n

Doctors are concerned Tasmanians will be forced to travel interstate for certain procedures if the Hobart Private Hospital is sold to Catholic provider Calvary, but the health minister insists there will be no service gap.<\/p>\n

Health Department secretary Dale Webster said if Calvary had not taken over the Hobart Private, the state would have lost 140 private beds.<\/p>\n

“Yes, Calvary are a faith-based organisation and we’ve been engaging with them since it was announced they were the prospective buyer, about what are the services that may be difficult for them to provide and working on alternatives,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Webster said by the time Calvary takes over, the services currently offered by Hobart Private will be offered by different providers, meaning no service gap.<\/p>\n

‘We are working on alternatives \u2026 back in April, Nexus, who run Hobart Day Surgery, announced they would take over IVF services, so that’s the first of those services transitioning, we are working on all the other services,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The services continue to be available at Hobart Private until the formal handover later this year.”<\/p>\n

Health Minister Bridget Archer said the sale was a “positive outcome”.<\/p>\n

“It will ensure the continued availability of private health services for Hobart and surrounds, helping to take pressure off our public system and supporting Tasmanians when they need it,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We understand the concerns raised around what services will be offered by Calvary and I note the ACCC’s acknowledgement services would likely cease.<\/p>\n

“We have been clear that we will ensure there is no service gap for vulnerable Tasmanians, with some services already resolved, such as IVF services, and we continue to work through details to resolve others.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Catholic provider Calvary Healthcare has received approval from the corporate watchdog to buy Hobart Private Hospital, despite concerns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[15793,11275,439510,64,63,35761,37410,137,500,12804,142862,4082,5815,46786,58671,7134,17574,1369,2801,439511,25026],"class_list":["post-871024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-abortion","tag-accc","tag-affirming","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-calvary","tag-gender","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hobart","tag-hobart-private-hospital","tag-hospital","tag-ivf","tag-lgbtqia","tag-private","tag-sale","tag-services","tag-surgery","tag-tasmania","tag-vasectomy","tag-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871024","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=871024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}