Northern Beaches Hospital has officially been put into the public hands. But what does this shift mean for operations?
The State Government says this transition is not a downgrade- it was a Level 5 hospital and will remain so. However, not all private services will continue.
Health Minister Ryan Park said at an official hospital press conference marking the change yesterday morning that he fully expects “challenges along the way.”
“To move a hospital, a live hospital, operating 24/7 into a public fold is not easy.”
The hospital runs both a public and private sector of the hospital. The NSW Government now has operational control over both; a private operator will take over the latter in June 2027.
About 96 per cent of workers at the hospital have accepted offers to transition to NSW Health.
While this transition looks to favour the public side – opening a variety of services previously only available to the private patients – NSW Health says the private facility will experience some changes during the hospital’s 14 month transition plan. In particular, neurosurgery procedures will now be conducted at Royal North Shore Hospital.
Manly Observer also inquired whether the private maternity wing will remain, with Minister Park saying all private services will continue to run for 12 months. However, the model after this has yet to be confirmed.
We understand there will no longer be private beds for mental health patients from today.
We asked whether the government will create mental health facilities for young people now that the hospital is public. NSW Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson said it’s under review.
Essentially, beyond June 2026 the hospital’s a “TBC”.
The hospital has 500 beds. Chief Executive Northern Sydney Local Health District Anthony Schembri was unable to confirm how many would remain private, but stated a third of admitted patients today are private.
Services being expanded or opened to public patients for the first time are in the realm of cardiology, orthopaedics, and selected higher-complexity procedures across multiple specialties where restricting access would create unequal wait times.
Notably absent under Healthscope’s management was an acute stroke thrombolysis service – a standard clot-busting treatment available at comparable hospitals – which NSW Health has flagged as an immediate priority now that the facility is in public hands.
The 2024-2029 Clinical Services Plan repeatedly states it aims to close the gap of unequal wait times between private and public patients within theatre allocations.
However, the plan does not specify how the interim model will create equal wait times among patients in both sectors when there is currently no new capacity being created to absorb the additional public demand.
How Did It Get Here?
The $190 million takeover from Healthscope by the State Government was sparked by an avoidable tragedy of a Northern Beaches family.
Elouise and Danny Massa delivered an aggressive campaign for an inquiry into Healthscopes’ operations after their 2-year-old, Joe, died of hypovolemia at Sydney Children’s Hospital after Northern Beaches Hospital staff incorrectly triaged him.
An audit ensued by the NSW Audit office which concluded the hospital’s public-private partnership was not effectively delivering the best quality integrated health services and clinical outcomes to the Northern Beaches community and the State.
From here Joe’s Law was established which aims to prohibit future public-private partnerships in hospitals, ensuring operations are in public hands and not for profit. The shift to public was initially supposed to take three years but was achieved in 12 months – cutting Healthscope’s contract short by 12 years.
NSW Premier Chris Minns acknowledged the courage and tenacity of the family at the press conference outside the newly-made-public hospital today, admitting the progress wouldn’t of happened without their advocacy.
“I think everyone would have forgiven the family for spending time with themselves, crawling up in a ball, not speaking to anyone for as long as they needed to recover from that terrible loss of their son, Joe,” Premier Minns said. “But to throw yourself into a public campaign for change so that other families don’t go through what you’ve gone through is an enormous act of public spiritedness. And I’ve been taken by their activism, the passion of their demands for change. And you know, Ryan and I and Daniel, we listened. That was our job here.”
