By Michael McGowan, Angus Thomson and Frances Howe
NSW Premier Chris Minns will not rule out buying back Northern Beaches Hospital from its troubled private owners after announcing a ban on any future public-private partnerships at acute hospitals – a major shake-up triggered by the death of two-year-old Joe Massa.
The state government introduced legislation to parliament on Thursday afternoon to prevent any future government from entering into a Northern Beaches Hospital-style arrangement. Private company Healthscope won the contract to build and operate the facility until 2038.
Danny and Elouise Massa hold a pair of shoes once worn by their son Joe, who died at Northern Beaches Hospital.Credit: Steven Siewert
Minns said the legislation, dubbed “Joe’s Law”, would ensure that public hospital emergency, surgical and inpatient services would not be privatised. Private companies would continue to play a role within the public system, he said, but the legislation would prevent partnerships that limit public control over hospital services.
“Healthcare should not primarily be about making profit. It should be about saving lives and ensuring people get healthy,” he said. “Clearly, that didn’t happen for baby Joe, and the Massas have shown that we need to do everything possible to ensure that another family doesn’t go through the same tragedy.”
The ban will not be retrospective, meaning Healthscope will continue to operate the hospital. Its contract expires in 2038.
But Minns would not rule out buying back the hospital from Healthscope, which is $1.6 billion in debt and has rivals circling to take over some of its 38 hospitals.
Joe Massa died after systemic failures at Northern Beaches Hospital.
“We’re not going to let Northern Beaches Hospital close its doors … under all circumstances, that community needs an emergency department,” Minns said. “There’s a big difference between it going out of business and it being bought out … and we’ve got to manage the government’s response to that.”
Parents Danny and Elouise Massa called for an end to private-public partnerships when they told their story last month and questioned whether Healthscope was up to the task of running a public emergency department.
On Thursday, they said the legislation would ensure no government goes down a path “that puts profit before community safety”.
“This legislation affirms the dignity and honours the humanity of every single person in NSW,” they said. “We are resetting our moral compass on what is and what is not acceptable in our public healthcare system.”
Elouise Massa said she hoped Healthscope would not run the hospital until 2038.
“It hasn’t worked for Joe, that arrangement, and I don’t believe it’s been in the best interest of the public in NSW,” she said.
Local MP Michael Regan said the northern beaches community had lost confidence in the hospital and wanted it back in public hands.
“This was an issue that was raised … by both the community, but also the staff,” the independent MP and former mayor said. “That’s not right, and I’ve been working very closely with the minister and his team to see what we can do.”
Health Minister Ryan Park said the NSW auditor-general was expected to deliver an independent review of the hospital’s performance “in the coming weeks”.
Minns said the government would wait to see findings from the audit before making any decision on the hospital’s future. There are clauses in the government’s contract with Healthscope allowing both parties to terminate the agreement in certain circumstances.
In response to questions asked during budget estimates, Healthscope said there were no plans to cancel the contract. “As such, costs for early termination are not available.”
Opposition health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane said she was awaiting a briefing on the bill but was concerned it addressed an issue “that simply doesn’t exist right now”.
“Neither the Coalition nor Labor have any plans for future public-private partnerships with hospitals,” Sloane said. “Our focus must remain on fixing the serious challenges facing our health system, including the issues at Northern Beaches Hospital.”
“Bright and loving” Joe, two months shy of his second birthday, was taken to the Northern Beaches emergency department on the morning of September 14 last year after he had spent the night violently vomiting and dry retching at their home in North Balgowlah.
He was suffering from significant hypovolemia, a condition that occurs when the body loses too much fluid. He was left in an emergency department chair for two-and-a-half hours despite showing clear signs of a life-threatening condition.
An internal investigation into Joe’s death found serious individual and systemic failures in the hospital’s management of his rapidly deteriorating condition and eventual cardiac arrest.
The hospital has been subject to fierce community scrutiny since the Frenchs Forest project was announced by then-health minister Jillian Skinner in 2013.
It was supposed to be the “jewel in the crown” of the former Coalition government’s public-private partnership ambitions, but its opening in 2018 was marred by industrial disputes and equipment shortages.
Skinner’s successor, Brad Hazzard, ultimately shelved plans to build and run five regional hospitals privately, and a parliamentary inquiry later recommended an end to public-private hospital partnerships altogether.
Opposition leader Mark Speakman would not say on Thursday whether the Coalition’s deal with Healthscope was a mistake. “I wasn’t the health minister at the time,” he said.
Labor opposed the deal in opposition, and Ryan Park has criticised the arrangement while in government. “It is not a model that, from my perspective, is sustainable,” he said on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Healthscope confirmed its owner, Brookfield Asset Management, was preparing to put it up for sale, after securing a reprieve on debts totalling more than $1.6 billion.
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