Latest news with #privatehospital
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Concerns grow over private hospital closures
Andy Park: Amid the ongoing Healthscope saga, patients are perplexed about what it means for them. Now in another challenge for the health sector, a private psychiatric hospital in Brisbane has announced its closure. The Australian Medical Association says private health insurance customers are now reconsidering their investment. Elizabeth Cramsie reports. Elizabeth Cramsie: Jess McClusky is pregnant with her second child, but this time around she won't be able to give birth in the hospital of her choice. Jess McClusky: People that have laboured in hallways and those kinds of things, so that's one of the major concerns I think for me, having to go to the public hospital, where I know that at the private, that doesn't happen. Elizabeth Cramsie: Healthscope, which operates Darwin's only private hospital, has gone into receivership, and from next week there will be no private maternity services in Darwin. For patients like Jess, who pay for private health insurance, the move is making them reconsider. Jess McClusky: If you're paying for the insurance and you can't get anything for it, what's the point? What's the point in having it? Elizabeth Cramsie: But the upheaval in hospital care is not just limited to those operated by Healthscope. Now a major private Queensland hospital has announced it will close its doors. Management of Toowong Private Psychiatric Hospital says it's being forced to close due to insufficient payments provided by private health insurers. It's something that was put to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on ABC Radio Brisbane yesterday. Anthony Albanese: Quite clearly the health insurers need to pay additional money for the private health care that's provided and that is creating an issue across the board. Elizabeth Cramsie: Brett Heffernan is the Chief Executive of the Australian Private Hospital Alliance. Brett Heffernan: Toowong Private Hospital, it's been an institution in Brisbane, been there for 50 years. It's had the same management team for 30 years and they're closing their doors all because the health insurance industry refused to pay their bills in full. Elizabeth Cramsie: With private hospitals accounting for 62% of all acute mental health care across Australia, Brett Heffernan warns more are dangerously close to shutting down. Brett Heffernan: I've got another eight or so, most of which are mental health hospitals, who are earmarked for closure. Now, there's no comparison between public and private hospital mental health care. They do two very different things. So when these private mental health facilities shut down, there's pretty much nowhere for the patients to go. Elizabeth Cramsie: Dr Danielle McMullen is the President of the Australian Medical Association. Dr Danielle McMullen: It's really important that our governments come together with insurers and private hospitals and groups like the AMA, we think under a private health system authority, to really drive the reforms that we need to see. Elizabeth Cramsie: In a statement, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler says the solutions lie with the insurers and hospitals working together. It's incumbent on them to come together and find solutions. Andy Park: Elizabeth Cramsie there and private health insurers have been approached for comment.
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."
SBS Australia
26-05-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
Private hospital giant Healthscope falls into receivership
Private hospital giant Healthscope falls into receivership Published 26 May 2025, 8:45 am Healthscope, one of Australia's largest private hospital groups has collapsed. The company has 37 hospitals across the country and employs around 20,000 people. Its owner, Canadian private equity group Brookfield, has been struggling to pay back $1.6 billion to creditors.
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Private hospital operator Healthscope goes into receivership
Australia's second-biggest private hospital owner Healthscope goes into receivership, with doubts a buyer can be found.
