Toowong Private Hospital that has been open for almost 50 years will close after failing to find a buyer

A private Brisbane psychiatric hospital that has been operating for almost 50 years will be `wound down’ after administrators failed to find a buyer.

Toowong Private Hospital to close after administrators weer unable to find a buyer.

A private psychiatric hospital in Brisbane’s inner west that went into voluntary administration almost two weeks ago will be closed down after failing to fund a buyer, leaving families and residents scrambling to find new accommodation.

The announcement comes a day after Australia’s second largest private hospital operator Healthscope went into administration when lenders swooped over $1.4bn in debt.

The 58-bed Toowong Private Hospital, that has been operating since 1976 on Milton Rd, was owned by the renowned construction family NA Kratzmann & Sons.

EY Partner David Kennedy, who with Andrew Hanson, Robyn Duggan, and Colby O’Brien were appointed voluntary administrators on May 14, said at the time that the hospital’s owners faced challenges, particularly in the trading environment since the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said they undertaking an urgent financial and operational assessment of the company’s options.

Toowong Private Hospital will be closing after failing to find a buyer.

However. on Tuesday Mr Kennedy said they were unable to find a buyer.

“Unfortunately, no viable expressions of interest have been received, and as a result, the hospital must now move to a wind-down plan,” he said.

“The primary focus remains ensuring continuity of care for patients, as their treatment either completes or, where appropriate, alternative care arrangements are planned.

“The administrators are working closely with admitting psychiatrists to determine the most appropriate courses of action on a case-by-case basis.”

Toowong Private Hospital has been operating for almost 50 years and was acquired by builder and property developer Noel Austin Kratzmann who chaired the hospital board until his death in 1989.

As a builder in the 1950s Mr Kratzmann had companies based in Brisbane and Townsville, and won contracts for a number of large projects: hospitals, power stations, hotels – including Stanley Korman’s Chevron Hotel, Surfers Paradise – banks, buildings at the University of Queensland, and housing developments, both public and private.

Mr Kratzmann and his wife were patrons of the Twelfth Night Theatre, in the 1960s and helped to finance the company’s new theatre at Bowen Hills.

After his death, the family endowed the Kratzmann chair of psychiatry at the University of Queensland and assisted the university to restore the Customs House, its city campus.