Concerns over abortion, vasectomies, IVF, gender-affirming care access as Catholic organisation Calvary buys Hobart Private
Catholic healthcare provider Calvary is set to buy Hobart Private Hospital. (ABC News: David Hudspeth)
In short:
Calvary will purchase two private hospitals from embattled operator Healthscope, including the Hobart Private Hospital.
However, there are now concerns about access to some services, including terminations and gender affirming care, which Calvary does not offer.
What's next?
The state's peak medical body is calling for the Catholic organisation to make exemptions, given it's set to become the sole private hospital operator in southern Tasmania.
The future of the Hobart Private Hospital has been secured with operator Healthscope agreeing to sell the facility to Catholic provider Calvary Health Care.
However, there are concerns about access in Hobart to some procedures, such as surgical terminations and vasectomies, which the faith-based medical organisation does not offer.
Healthscope's parent company collapsed into receivership in May this year, but its 37 hospitals across the country have continued operating.
In August, Healthscope closed maternity services at Hobart Private, and in 2023 it closed the St Helen's mental health hospital in central Hobart.
Calvary's national chief executive, Damien Bruce, said the acquisition of Hobart Private, as well as Victoria's Holmesglen Private Hospital, reflected the organisation's commitment to "caring for communities", and "ensuring the ongoing availability" of private healthcare.
"We recognise the uncertainty experienced by staff and clinicians during this period, and our focus is on providing stability, continuity of care and a strong future for Holmesglen and Hobart private hospitals,"Mr Bruce said.
Healthscope and Calvary will execute the sale of the 146 bed facility, which is co-located with the public Royal Hobart Hospital, in the coming months.
A price has not been disclosed.
Calvary already operates two southern Tasmanian hospitals, located in Lenah Valley and South Hobart, as well as two in Launceston.
Calvary already owns two private hospitals in Hobart, and two in Launceston. (ABC News: Pete Curtis)
AMA calls on Calvary to make 'exemptions'
The Australian Medical Association has flagged concerns about Calvary restricting access to some lawful procedures, including vasectomies, surgical terminations, IVF, gender affirming surgery, and voluntary assisted dying.
AMA president Michael Lumsden-Steel said Calvary had a "responsibility" to retain access, despite it being a faith-based organisation.
"If you don't provide and offer that service, it forces patients to choose potential alternative providers and fly interstate, and that's just simply not appropriate," Dr Lumsden-Steel said.
The state's two major IVF providers also both use Hobart Private for their work, with one of them conducting all of its procedures there.
Dr Michael Lumsden-Steel is concerned access to some lawful procedures, including abortion, will be stopped under Calvary's ownership of the Hobart Private Hospital. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
"Exemptions must be put in place to allow these procedures to continue to be performed in private hospitals in southern Tasmania; the public system simply does not have the capacity to absorb this additional workload,"Dr Lumsden-Steel said.
A spokesperson for Calvary declined to comment on the availability of these procedures, but said questions would be answered "in the new year".
It's unclear whether the North West Private Hospital in Burnie, which is owned by HealtheCare, offers surgical terminations.
Private hospital 'monopoly'
With dozens of closures around the country, the private health sector has faced increasing instability in recent years, as health insurers, doctors and hospitals blame each other for the rising cost of delivering healthcare.
Tasmanian Health Minister Bridget Archer welcomed the proposed sale of Hobart Private, saying the government had been monitoring the situation.
Bridget Archer says the sale will "provide welcome reassurance". (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)
"If you pay for private health, you should be able to access it, and this decision will provide welcome reassurance to staff and the Tasmanian community about the continuation of private health services in the south of the state," Ms Archer said.
Chief health officer at St Lukes private health insurance provider, Luke Cameron, noted Calvary was the only private provider of overnight acute care in Tasmania's south, and had the only overnight private hospital in Launceston.
'With this monopoly situation comes an obligation to ensure Calvary delivers the quality and breadth of service at an appropriately affordable cost for Tasmanians," he said.
Earlier this month, Calvary was forced to close three operating theatres at St Luke's Hospital in Launceston, due to damage to the floors.