Latest news with #DarwinPrivateHospital
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Healthscope insists 'business as usual' at Darwin Private Hospital, amid receivership
Healthscope has moved to quell fears the Northern Territory could lose its only private hospital, as financial troubles cast uncertainty over the medical centre's future. Healthscope is Australia's second-largest private hospital operator, running 37 hospitals across the country, including Darwin Private Hospital (DPH). The financially troubled operator collapsed into receivership on Monday, just one week before its maternity services at DPH were due to end on June 6. The company is now looking for new owners, having appointed corporate restructuring firm McGrathNicol as its receiver. The instability is particularly unnerving for patients in the NT, where public hospitals are often stretched to capacity and the looming closure of DPH's birthing ward is prompting women to travel interstate. Healthscope senior director of corporate affairs, Jim Cooper, said DPH would continue to operate all services as normal except maternity care. "It is completely, 100 per cent business at usual at Darwin Private," he told ABC Radio Darwin. "Our staff are there ready to care for you. Bookings are being taken as normal." Mr Cooper said Healthscope anticipated the process of finding new owners would take about 8 to 12 weeks. He said the company had already received 10 indicative offers for either the whole network or for individual hospitals. "Finding an owner won't be the problem," he said. "It'll just be a matter of what is the best ownership structure going forward." He said Healthscope had enough funds to keep all hospitals open during the sale process, with the Commonwealth Bank offering an additional $100 million in loan funding as extra support. "We can go on as long as we need to until we get clarity, so there will be no issue with money drying up or any pressure on hospitals staying open," he said. The Australian Medical Association's (AMA) new NT president, John Zorbas, said the sector needed a concrete timeline for the transition. "Our main priority here is to ensure … the safe care of patients in Darwin Private Hospital and the knock-on effects that Royal Darwin Hospital would suffer were Darwin Private to close," he told ABC Radio Darwin. Dr Zorbas said the NT's public health system was "bursting at the seams". NT Health Minister Steve Edgington said the collapse of Healthscope was "extremely disappointing" following the company's closure of its Darwin maternity services. He said he hoped a buyer would soon take over operation of the private hospital. "This is extremely important and our focus is really all about ensuring that Territorians have choice when it comes to the public and private system," he said. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said he recognised the situation was "highly distressing to patients, staff and local communities". However, he said the government would not offer a taxpayer bailout. When DPH closes its birthing ward on June 6, the NT will be the only jurisdiction in Australia without private maternity services. Despite outrage from expectant mothers, Mr Cooper said he doubted the hospital's future operator would reinstate those services. "The decision to close the maternity service was not so much due to ownership concerns or financial challenges at the parent company level," he said. "It was really about the fact we've seen birth numbers decline in the last decade, from say 700 [per year] to less than 300 now. "It's just not feasible for us to continue to run a maternity service on those very low birth numbers."
Perth Now
26-05-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Big banks hand private hospital giant a $100m lifeline
Two major banks will help keep Australia's second-largest hospital operator afloat as its struggles with crippling debt. Commonwealth Bank announced on Monday it would provide $100 million to support Healthscope, which operates 37 hospitals in every Australian state and territory. Westpac has agreed to continue to provide assistance to help receivers sell the business, offering some clarity to the provider's 18,000 employees. Receivers have been appointed, led by McGrathNicol partner Keith Crawford, who said the focus was to engage "constructively with all key stakeholders to ensure uninterrupted operation of Healthscope hospitals". He said the intention was to transition all hospitals to new ownership, with no plans for closures or redundancies. Healthscope said while the parent entity had entered receivership, the operational business, which runs the hospitals, has not. Every hospital would operate as normal, chief executive Tino La Spina said. He revealed the additional funding would ensure a stable path to sale. "There is no interruption to the outstanding care we provide ... the additional funding, while we do not anticipate it being required, provides additional support," Mr Spina said. "The receivers and management share the same goal of maintaining our market-leading standards of patient care and protecting the business, the hospitals and our amazing people." The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation earlier said it had been working with members and stakeholders navigating the financial difficulties and uncertainty. "For the nurses and midwives who care for patients in Healthscope every day, this is a very difficult and worrying time," union official Phoebe Mansell said. "The financial collapse of Healthscope is a stark and shocking reminder of the dangers of privatising essential healthcare services." The operator owns the Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney, Hobart Private Hospital, Darwin Private Hospital and Knox Private Hospital in Melbourne. In May 2024, then chief executive Greg Horan said even though the sector was "facing considerable headwinds", providing the "best care" remained a top priority. The company came under scrutiny following the death of two-year-old Joe Massa at the Northern Beaches Hospital in September 2024. The toddler died after being wrongly triaged and waiting two hours for a hospital bed. He was later transferred to Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick following a cardiac arrest but succumbed to brain damage. Healthscope moved to shutdown maternity services at Darwin Private Hospital and Hobart Private Hospital earlier in 2025.
ABC News
15-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
The NT's only private maternity ward is about to shut. Here's what we know about the new care options
The Northern Territory health minister has released the details of a replacement service for expectant Top End parents seeking private maternity healthcare. It comes after Darwin Private Hospital operator Healthscope announced it would be closing the facility's birthing ward from June 6, a move that will leave expectant parents with no other option but to give birth at the public Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH). The NT government previously flagged plans to offer two new options for private postnatal care for affected families — a "luxury retreat" at a "boutique" Darwin hotel and an at-home service. With more details now released, here's what we know about the new care options. Private maternity patients will first give birth at RDH before receiving postnatal care at a hotel or in their own home. The Mercure Darwin Airport Resort has been announced as the Darwin hotel that will provide expectant parents with a private postnatal stay option from June 1. NT Health Minister Steve Edgington says private maternity patients will be reserved a "deluxe king suite" room, where they will be able to stay for up to four nights post-birth and receive postnatal care by visiting RDH midwives. The midwives will assist patients with wounds, postnatal assessments, feeding, baby weighing and general newborn care. Mr Edgington says NT Health eventually hopes to secure a private midwifery provider to take over this service from RDH midwives. NT Health general manager of corporate strategy and performance, Alison Jeanne, says there will be a "ring-fence" around rooms reserved for postnatal care to ensure they remain available for eligible patients. Private patients who face complications during or after birth will need to remain at RDH until it's safe for them to be discharged. The "return home sooner package" is the alternative postnatal care option available to private maternity patients as of June 1. The government says this service will allow parents and their newborn to receive support in their own home, after being discharged from hospital. Support provided for families will include meal preparation and cleaning, and the same midwifery support offered to those who choose the hotel option. The government has not specified how many days after birth this service will be provided for. The NT government is promising all patients with private health insurance covering pregnancy and birth hospital care will have access to the private postnatal packages. 'I have been advised by NT Health that all insurers have agreed to support care options for women and families post-birth,' Mr Edgington said on Thursday. He also said NT Health had been in regular discussions with major insurers Medibank, Bupa and the Australian Health Service Alliance, which "represent around 93 per cent of the women affected". The government says all of the private services provided will not be "costing taxpayers anything" because all costs will be covered by private health insurers. NT Health-led information sessions will be held next week at the Mercure Darwin Airport Resort, for expectant families to view the accommodation and discuss their care with RDH specialist staff. NT Health says small group and one-on-one sessions will be made available to families the week starting May 26, so they can discuss with staff "the services, models of care and discharge support, as well as what to expect during birth, staying in the hospital and postnatal care". At a press conference on Thursday, Mr Edgington said he had written to the federal Health Minister, Mark Butler, requesting $35 million to help the NT government make "some modifications" to RDH's maternity ward. The Tasmanian government in February successfully secured $6 million from the Commonwealth to expand maternity services in Hobart hospitals, after Healthscope also announced the closure of its birthing ward there. Mr Edgington flip-flopped on whether RDH could manage the extra patients from the private system long-term, saying at first the government had requested the $35 million because it was looking at how to "cope with the additional 250 births per year". He later said: "We've made it very clear that 250 additional births can be consumed within the current arrangements at the Royal Darwin Hospital".
ABC News
06-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Northern Territory women delay pregnancies, travel interstate as only private maternity ward shuts
Northern Territory women say they've been "robbed of choice" ahead of the territory's only private maternity ward closing. Some women have told the ABC they plan to travel interstate to give birth, or delaying pregnancy altogether. Darwin Private Hospital (DPH) is closing its maternity services on June 6, leaving the NT the only jurisdiction in Australia without a private birthing ward. It's expected to have Darwin mother Danielle Mulhall is heading interstate for the birth of her second child due to the NT's only private maternity ward closing. ( ABC News: Pete Garnish ) Darwin mum Danielle Mulhall and her husband will travel to Sydney for the birth of their second baby. Ms Mulhall's pregnancy was conceived through IVF, which comes with a greater risk of complications. With her first pregnancy, also IVF-conceived, Ms Mulhall needed surgery right after birth and spent the next five days in hospital. "The aftercare was what was really important for us," she said. "The complication that I had, which was a retained placenta, that is considered more common in IVF — and then once you've had it once, then that risk increases again. "I won't have the privacy to be able to look after my next baby in that really comfortable environment, I won't have the support of my husband in that time as well." Maternity services are even more scarce in the bush In the remote Gulf town of Borroloola, Ashley Bradford doesn't have the option to travel interstate. There are no options to have a hospital birth in Borroloola, with mothers sent to either Katherine or Darwin when they're about 36 weeks pregnant. ( ABC News: Hamish Harty ) She had to travel almost 1,000 kilometres to Darwin for each appointment during her first pregnancy. She had a consult to plan her second pregnancy just two days before the private maternity ward closure was announced. "I had all the referrals lined up … [it was] a shock to the system," she said. A single mum by choice who needs fertility assistance to conceive, Ms Bradford has delayed a second pregnancy until her options become clearer. Ashley Bradford, who's lived in Borroloola her whole life, is now raising her son Beauden in the remote Gulf community. ( Supplied ) "It's not a matter of private versus public, one being better than the other," Ms Bradford said. "It's one of the first choices you make in parenthood … you feel a bit robbed to not have that choice. "For me it was also a personal choice as out remote you don't have regular doctors all the time. I really wanted that consistency of care." Ms Bradford also experienced serious complications during her first donor-conceived pregnancy, and had to spend almost a week in hospital post-birth after being diagnosed with preeclampsia. Ashley Bradford has delayed having another baby until her options to have private maternity care become clearer. ( Supplied ) "I got full body tremors and I couldn't hold my son. I was so grateful my mum was able to stay with me in the private ward … and the staff there gave me that extra support," she said. "If I get preeclampsia again and I'm out of the hospital, at home, will that be picked up as quick?" Thousands call on NT government to step up More than 1,200 people have signed Lia Finocchiaro said the NT government was "trying to make the best of a terrible situation". ( ABC News: Pete Garnish ) The NT government has promised to work with health insurers to offer families 24/7 postnatal care through either But five weeks out from the closure of the private maternity ward, the NT government is yet to secure private providers to deliver these services. Photo shows a person (obviously in hospital) holds a very newborn baby up against monitors The closure of two major private maternity units in Darwin and Hobart are the latest in a long-running problem with birthing units closing around the country. Here's why it's happening. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the tender process was still underway, but "everything with the transition is on track". She was also confident RDH could take on the estimated 300 extra births per year. "A lot of the staff who were in the maternity ward at the private hospital are now coming across to the public system," she told ABC Radio Darwin. Tasmania secured federal help, why didn't the NT? In announcing its Darwin closure, Healthscope said The Tasmanian government successfully secured Federal Solomon MP Luke Gosling said the NT government had not requested similar support from the Commonwealth — a claim Ms Finocchiaro didn't deny. Despite But the uncertainty is weighing on first-time mother Brooke Illingworth, due next month in the public hospital. Brooke Illingworth, who's due to have her first baby next month, is concerned Royal Darwin Hospital is too overburdened to cope with the extra maternity load. ( ABC News: Pete Garnish ) "We don't know what's happening and we're very close to the end," she said. "It's nothing against the staff themselves and their capabilities in the public hospital, [the concerns are] the aftercare and the continuity." Ms Illingworth said she would likely move interstate to have another child. "We're a capital city. For that choice to no longer be there, it's just really devastating," she said.
