The Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, discussed the financial crisis engulfing Healthscope hospitals nationally and the possibility of it resulting in the closure of Hobart Private Hospital. Mr Wilkie will be joined by leading health analyst, Martyn Goddard.
“While almost everyone’s been pre-occupied with the imminent closure of the Hobart Private Hospital maternity ward, the substantive story of Healthscope’s very existence has gone almost entirely unnoticed”, Mr Wilkie said. “The headline should be that the company has called in KordaMentha to develop a contingency plan for voluntary administration.
“KordaMentha specialises in urgently restructuring and stabilising businesses in financial distress, as well as dealing with insolvency. It is currently administering the collapsed steelworks in Whyalla.
“That Healthscope is now working with KordaMentha is entirely to be expected seeing as the company is bleeding cash, owes creditors some $1.6 billion and is even defaulting on its rent obligations for some of its hospitals. Surely it’s only a matter of time before its foreign owner, Brookfield, flogs it’s Australian hospitals off or shuts them down.
“Even if Healthscope’s hospital network is to largely survive this alarming episode, almost certainly at least some of its under-performing hospitals will be closed. And that puts Hobart Private right in the firing line because, despite the best efforts of its wonderful staff, it’s no secret that this Healthscope Hospital has had question marks over its survival for years.
“In the circumstances the Tasmanian Government must urgently develop a contingency plan for the closure of Hobart Private Hospital. Because if it does close, access to health care in Tasmania will be even more severely restricted than it currently is, and a health system already in crisis will teeter on collapse.”