Fears more private hospitals cuts loom in regions

A top doctor warns private hospital cuts harm the “overworked” public system as concerns for regional mums-to-be grow.

There are fears more private hospitals will cut back regional health services. Picture: Scott Campbell

There are fears more private hospitals will cut back regional health services as the state’s peak rural doctor body warns closures increase pressure on an overworked public system.

St John of God Bendigo Hospital announced this week the future of their maternity and intensive care services were under review.

Chief executive Michael Hogan said while Bendigo had seen a drop in demand, there were also broader issues across private health including staff shortages, “significant” cost increases and a trend in consumers cutting back on certain private healthcare services.

When asked by the Herald Sun whether more private hospitals may consider cutting services due to financial challenges, he said it was “already happening”.

“Something needs to change,” he said.

“We can’t have the risk of a whole heap of private hospitals closing because public hospitals will then be further burdened.”

It comes after another Geelong Epworth, closed their birthing suite in March, citing midwife shortages while interstate hospitals have also made similar cuts.

A now-closed birth suite at Epworth Geelong. Picture: supplied

Rural Doctors Association of Victoria President Dr Daniel Wilson saidany potential closures were “really disappointing” and impacted both private and public patients.

“The two [sectors] are so intimately connected that when one falls down the other is absolutely impacted,” he said.

“The public sector is already blown out with massive waiting for outpatient services and can’t particularly handle additional significant increases.”

He said the majority of RADV members primarily work with public patients but were still concerned about the threat of closures to patient choice and the “overworked public health system”.

“If this were to happen country wide, I actually don’t want to imagine our healthcare system with no private birthing services,” he said.

“As I can absolutely tell you that incidences of increased maternal death and probably increased neonatal death would occur should all private maternity services close tomorrow.”

Australian Private Hospitals Association acting chief executive Lucy Cheetham said a “number” of Australian hospitals had shut units or closed in the past year in one of the sector’s “worst times”.

“Some are calling it the worst in living memory,” she said.

“This is not just a problem for St John of God in Bendigo.”

She said hospital’s operating costs had risen at an estimated three to five times the rate of health insurance companies’ payments, and pointed to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest data showing less than a third of private hospital sector businesses broke even in 2021-22.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said they had delivered a “world-class” public hospital in Bendigo with “enough capacity to meet the needs of the community”.

“We’re making investments to expand maternity services and build up the midwifery workforce right across Victoria, including recruiting and training an additional 17,000 nurses and making it free to study nursing and midwifery,” she said.

St John of God Bendigo Hospital will announce the results of their review later.