Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, said the closure of Hobart Private’s Maternity Ward is a dreadful turn of events. Its high-quality service gave mums choice and reduced the pressure on the Royal Hobart Hospital.
“While I seriously doubt whether the State Government genuinely tried to engineer some kind of rescue plan, the Federal Government’s concern with the viability of the hospital is very ominous,” Mr Wilkie said. “It’s well-known that Healthscope is in dire financial strife nationally and Hobart faces the very real prospect of the Private being shut down entirely.
“All of this is an extraordinary wake-up call for the Tasmanian Government to stop relying so much on the private hospitals and start prioritising funding for the Royal. That the Government clearly has so many other ridiculous priorities is all the evidence we need that it is completely and utterly useless and not fit to govern.”