{"id":184513,"date":"2025-10-02T07:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T07:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/184513\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T07:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T07:59:09","slug":"unions-and-patients-rally-to-save-hobarts-last-private-mental-health-clinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/184513\/","title":{"rendered":"Unions and patients rally to save Hobart\u2019s last private mental health clinic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unions, staff and former patients have rallied outside Hobart\u2019s Executive Building, demanding urgent action to save the city\u2019s last private inpatient mental health facility.<\/p>\n

The Hobart Clinic will close its doors by October 31 after more than 30 years of service, citing financial pressures that made the facility unsustainable.<\/p>\n

Its closure will strip up to 28 mental health beds from Tasmania\u2019s already stretched system.<\/p>\n

Health and Community Services Union State Secretary Robbie Moore said the public system simply cannot absorb the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hobart Clinic is the only service in the state offering vital treatments such as inpatient TMS (Transcranial magnetic stimulation),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Unions and patients rally to save Hobart\u2019s last private mental health clinic<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it closes, patients will need to deteriorate to crisis point before being admitted through emergency. Wait times will blow out, public services will be pushed beyond breaking point and lives will be put at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 1,500 Tasmanians have signed a petition calling on the government to keep the facility open.<\/p>\n

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Tasmanian Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd said the suggestion patients could move to Peacock House or the Royal Hobart Hospital was unrealistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) has relied on the Hobart Clinic\u2019s inpatient beds when the THS have not had capacity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo suggest the THS can somehow now absorb the needs of an additional 28 inpatients with no additional bed stock than was already in use along with the Hobart Clinic, is ingenuous at best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"HACSU\u2019s Robbie Moore with Phoebe Mansell of the ANMF<\/p>\n

She said many patients have moderate mental health needs that don\u2019t meet the high-acuity threshold for the Royal.<\/p>\n

Health Minister Bridget Archer has blamed the federal government for the facility\u2019s closure, calling it \u201canother sad example of the failing viability of privately-run health facilities across the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Archer has written to her federal counterpart requesting urgent talks on options including higher Medicare rebates and addressing the psychiatrist shortage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hobart Clinic has acknowledged that even with renewed state intervention, their business model was not sustainable,\u201d Archer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery dollar spent on a private provider is one less dollar we can spend in the public system where it\u2019s most needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Labor leader Josh Willie should pick up the phone to former Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White \u2013 now the federal assistant health minister \u2013 \u201cand advocate for Tasmania\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"Unions and patients rally to save Hobart\u2019s last private mental health clinic<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government controls the levers that affect private hospital sustainability, primarily private insurance premiums and they are the only ones who can fix it,\u201d Archer said.<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s shadow health minister Sarah Lovell accused the Liberals of passing the buck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liberals have the power to intervene and keep the Hobart Clinic open until a long-term solution is found, they just won\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minister\u2019s job is to fix these problems. Not to point the finger and walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unions, staff and former patients have rallied outside Hobart\u2019s Executive Building, demanding urgent action to save the city\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-184513","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\/184513","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=184513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}