Sophie Scamps asks Mark Butler:

The Northern Beaches Hospital in Mackellar has provided both public and private services under a public rabbit partnership. Following the private operator Healthscope entering receivership in May this year the announcement public services would be transitioned to NSW Health was indeed very welcome. However there is great uncertainty about the continuation of the world-class private services delivered there. What reassurance can you provide my community regarding ongoing access to all the private services at Northern Beaches Hospital?

Butler:

I acknowledge the members advocacy or the return of this privatised hospital effectively to public hands. And can I remind the House that no Labor government has privatised hospitals over the last 30 years while Liberal government after Liberal government around the country has persisted with this failed experiment of privatising public acute care hospitals.

The first time I dealt with it was in the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide back in the 1990s when Healthscope the same company was given the contract to run the Modbury Hospital. It was a debacle. We seen repeat after repeat of this failed Liberal Party experiment to privatise our public acute care hospitals. We know the auditor general report confirmed that sense of failure.

It does not integrate popularly into the system, that of the New South Wales order to general found and there is a tension between profit and proper clinical care that should not happen in an acute care public hospital the private hospital system has, is very different, it’s largely therefore planned procedures and of course. Go, the Liberal Party seeking to defend failed privatisation experiments because at the end of the day like Pavlov’s dog they return to the idea we should have a privatised model of healthcare. That’s not the Member’s view.

I do know though the very hard work of the New South Wales Minister for Health is doing here to unwind privatisation over a relatively short period of time is one that is seeking to reassure first of all doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff at that hospital that they’ll have jobs and clinical services at this hospital will be up to scratch.

I think there is a close process of consultation there. They will all have jobs offered, their entitlements will transfer to NSW Health if they choose to take up that offer.

As a member also knows South was is consulting closely with clinicians and the community about what privatise, what private hospital services will continue to be available on that precinct or on hospital site. I am keeping in touch with the New South Wales Minister about that.

As the Member knows this is all complicated by the fact Healthscope more broadly which runs well over 30 hospitals including Northern Beaches across the country is now in receivership so we are taking the lead as the Commonwealth or making sure there is continuity of service from all those other Healthscope hospitals but we took a decision as to governments NSW Health would leave on essentially unwinding arrangements and guaranteed private and public services on the Northern Beaches site but if the Member wants me to update her and keep representing these issues to the New South Wales Minister I’d be more than happy to.