{"id":149509,"date":"2025-09-17T03:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T03:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/149509\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T03:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T03:28:12","slug":"the-hobart-clinic-to-close-27-bed-mental-health-facility-over-financial-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/149509\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hobart Clinic to close 27-bed mental health facility over financial woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hobart Clinic will shut its doors by the end of October, leaving Tasmania without a major private inpatient mental health facility.<\/p>\n

The 27-bed Rokeby hospital faces a $3 million deficit this financial year due to poor private health fund payments and patients unable to afford rising gap fees.<\/p>\n

Acting CEO Dr Stephen Ayre said the 40-year-old clinic\u2019s board made the \u201cdifficult decision\u201d after cash flow projections showed the facility was no longer viable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis had occurred as a result of low private health fund reimbursement and the inability for private patients to pay the increasing gap fees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The clinic\u2019s 100 staff will receive full entitlements, while its Hobart CBD outpatient service will continue operating.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Hobart Clinic will close by the end of October. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Health Minister Bridget Archer expressed disappointment but said the closure reflects nationwide struggles facing private health facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this decision was made by The Hobart Clinic and its board, I want to reassure Tasmanians of our commitment to mental health services across Tasmania,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The government insists expanded public services can absorb displaced patients through facilities like The Peacock Centre and planned mental health hubs.<\/p>\n

The closure comes just months after Tasmania ended its public-private partnership with the clinic in May, which allowed public patients to access beds.<\/p>\n

Dr Ayre said the clinic had attempted a business transformation, switching from employed psychiatrists to visiting medical officers to cut costs.<\/p>\n

\"\"Health Minister Bridget Archer expressed disappointment over the closure. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

However, the changes ran 18 months behind schedule due to recruitment difficulties and financial uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a well-documented fact that inpatient mental health services across Australia are under increasing financial stress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The government previously provided $1.4 million in 2024 and $2 million this year to keep the clinic afloat.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health will assist with patient transitions and encourage affected staff to apply for public sector positions, Archer said.<\/p>\n

Mental health support remains available through Access Mental Health on 1800 332 388 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hobart Clinic will shut its doors by the end of October, leaving Tasmania without a major private…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-149509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}