Northern Beaches Hospital has a new face at the helm. Simon Hill has been appointed General Manager following NSW Health’s $190 million takeover from Healthscope.
Hill has been handed one of the harder jobs in NSW Health: running a hospital that’s copped significant controversy as the poster child for failed public-private hospital ventures.
So, who is he?
“I was born in Mona Vale Hospital, many moons ago, and raised on the Northern Beaches,” Hill told Manly Observer.
“I lived in Mona Vale for most of my life, and I’m fortunate to continue to live in the community.”
The NSW Audit Office concluded that the hospital’s public-private partnership was not effectively delivering the best quality of integrated health services for its patients.
NSW Health cut short Healthscope’s contract by 12 years, taking the reins in April
Hill was part of the transition team to get the hospital back into public hands.
“For almost 30 years, I’ve worked in government and public health and have a strong leadership track record,” he said.
“Most recently, I was the General Manager at Hornsby Public Hospital, and I came across at the end of last year to be part of the transition team for Northern Beaches Hospital.
“It’s my absolute privilege to lead this team of very committed professionals, who are mostly Northern Beaches locals, and to lead the hospital in the community I live.”
More than 2,000 staff (96 per cent of Healthscope’s workforce) transitioned to NSW Health, and Hill wants the community to be proud of their hospital.
“Being part of the NSW Health family means that we’ll have much better integration between Mona Vale Urgent Care and Northern Beaches Hospital, making sure patients get access to care when they need it as quickly as possible,” Hill added.
“Another benefit of being part of NSW Health comes with investment; we’re going to have more doctors, more nurses, more allied health. That investment will ensure we can provide care today, but also in the future.”
Hill confirmed that while Northern Beaches will remain a Level 5 hospital, services like cosmetic surgery and cranial neurosurgery will no longer be available.
“Complex surgeries, like cranial neurosurgery, would usually be in a Level 6 hospital or a tertiary hospital, and they’re best done in volume at places like Royal North Shore Hospital.”
However, he added that they’ve identified a strong foundation of technology, specialist equipment and surgical services at the hospital, and NSW Health’s plan is to enhance those services.
“We’re immediately going to expand our community’s access to interventional cardiology procedures for both urgent and planned cardiac care,” he explained.
“We’re also implementing an acute thrombolysis service, which wasn’t here before, and this is around complex stroke care. We’re going to extend our endoscopy services and planned respiratory and lung cancer care, and also deliver a complex liver disease service. These are things the community has been asking for.”
Hill added the level of mental health treatment at Northern Beaches isn’t usually offered at public hospitals, but NSW Health will invest in the already established hospital services after listening to the community.
An investment in the Psychiatric Emergency Care (PEC) centre, including continuing Electronic Convulsive Treatment (ECT) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is planned, as is working with local service providers to build connections and identify gaps in providing mental health services on the Beaches.
In addition, while everyone will be treated as a public patient in Emergency, if a patient requires further treatment or surgery, they can opt to be treated as a private or public patient.
Which brings us to the big question surrounding the continuation of private services, which we reported on earlier this week.
“Northern Sydney LHD (Local Health District) has commenced looking at options for a co-located operator on the campus,” Hill explained, meaning private services will remain on-site, but how that looks is still up in the air.
He confirmed a decision will be made around December 2026, with July 2027 being the commencement of the delivery of that plan.
“For me, it’s how can we work with our community and our patients to continue to make Northern Beaches Hospital the very best it can be,” Hill said.
“I want our community to be as proud of the hardworking and professional hospital staff as I am to be leading them into the future.”
