Concerns private maternity care is becoming unsustainable for doctors, private hospitals
Action is needed to ensure the provision of sustainable maternity services in Tasmania, and the Royal Hobart Hospital is key, the Australian Medical Association says.
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Decisive and co-ordinated action is needed to ensure the provision of maternity services in Tasmania are sustainable, the Australian Medical Association says.
Australian Medical Association state president Michael Lumsden-Steel says the state and federal governments and health insurers need to work with private hospital operators to ensure the best outcome for patients — and the best use of taxpayer’s money.
Financially-troubled operator Healthscope has announced it will no longer offer maternity services at Hobart’s Private Hospital from 20 August 2025 “due to ongoing workforce challenges.”
The AMA has identified for improved funding, greater Medicare rebates and improvements to medical indemnity insurance as being among the improvements needed.
Dr Lumsden-Steel says there is a need for action to make sure private operators don’t go under because of the high cost of providing services.
“We need to see key players, both federally and state and the health insurers, to actually step up because we know at the moment maternity services as they are today are not sustainable services,” he said on Tuesday.
“We believe hospitals are running a loss for having maternity services in their location, and that’s not sustainable.”
Dr Lumsden-Steel said there was an important role for the private system to play on maternity services, but the federal funding model did not reflect the actual costs of providing care.
“We know from Queensland back in 2018 when they did the economical modelling, it’s about $8,000 more to deliver a baby in a public hospital than is a private hospital. So we know that patients that are actually choosing to take the private model, the deliveries are actually costing less.”
Achieving those efficiencies would most likely require a new hospital, he said.
“We have gone from having a well-resourced multi disciplinary unit at the old St Helens Healthscope building, which could have up to 10 inpatients, to a two-bed facility inside the Royal Hobart Hospital adolescent unit and we’ve all known it’s not fit for purpose.
“The global picture is that the AMA has raised in Tasmania is that we need to look at a new Royal Hobart Hospital.
“With that comes the opportunity to look at a private provider for potentially a private and public model, co-located in a fit-for-purpose, long-term hospital that’s designed to deliver care with the efficiencies we can get with a new hospital.”
Healthscope, which operated 38 hospitals across Australia, has announced a deal with its lenders to continue operating while it prepares for the potential sale of the business.
“Healthscope has entered into short term forbearance arrangements with the requisite majority of its senior lenders,” the company said in a statement.
“The arrangements are in place until May. These arrangements provide time and enhanced liquidity for Healthscope to focus on agreeing a longer-term solution for the business with its key stakeholders.
“This forbearance provides stability of ongoing operations, and a greater likelihood of a longer-term solution in the best interests of all stakeholders.”
Originally published as Concerns private maternity care is becoming unsustainable for doctors, private hospitals
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