Tasmania's healthcare is 'costing a lot of lives' says independent health analyst Martyn Goddard
It's too small, it hasn't had the economy of scale, none of the several operators over those years has been able to make a go of it, including Healthscope. Why should we think that that is suddenly going to be saleable? It's not.
Kylie Baxter
Do we need government intervention if the Hobart Private cannot be sold?
Martyn Goddard
If the Hobart Private cannot be sold, and I suspect strongly that that will be the case, then there is going to be no alternative but for the state government to step in and take it over. We cannot afford to lose 146 beds.
Kylie Baxter
What would it mean for health?
Martyn Goddard
Well, you know the problems we've got at the moment around the Royal Hobart Hospital, those would be magnified because the people who are in Hobart Private overwhelmingly are there people with elective surgery. And in this state and in this country, the private hospitals are doing a hell of a lot more elective surgery than the public hospitals. If you want elective surgery in this country, you've got to pay for it basically. You take that facility out and where are you? You're in a lot of trouble. And so are the people who rely on them, the patients who rely on them, and so of course are the staff.
Kylie Baxter
What do you actually think health care will look like in Tasmania in the next 12 months or even inside the next 12 months?
Martyn Goddard
I think it's likely that the Hobart Private Hospital will be reintegrated into the Royal Hobart Hospital. Overall, it's going to make relatively little difference to capacity because capacity in all of them is basically full.
Kylie Baxter
So you think there'll be no buyer and there'll have to be a bailout?
Martyn Goddard
I don't think we should bailout Brookfield, the private equity people. I mean, I think the smart thing would be actually to wait until it falls over and then just step in and take the lease back. The government still owns the property. It's just leased. So if they give up the lease, then back in the government's ownership.
Kylie Baxter
Anything else you wanted to add before we wind up?
Martyn Goddard
Just that I really wish our governments would wake up to the fact, genuinely wake up to the fact, that our health system is in deep, deep trouble. Really deep trouble. It's costing a lot of lives. It's costing a great deal of suffering. They could do something about it. They've chosen until now and ongoing to do nothing about it, to pretend it's not happening, to pretend everything's okay. It's not okay.
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