Today’s Audit Office’s report has highlighted stark failings in the delivery of public services at Northern Beaches Hospital, concluding that it is “not effectively delivering integrated, high-quality health care” and not performing to the requirements of the public private partnership deed.
Pittwater independent MP Jacqui Scruby reacted saying, “The Audit Office’s report provides an independent assessment of what we are hearing from the community - that the public private partnership is failing to deliver quality health care expected in the public health system and under the deed,’
“This audit shows how public patients in our community are being let down. This was a failed Liberal Party experiment at the expense of patients. Emergency and public care should not be run by the for-profit sector.
“This report adds further strength and momentum to return public services to the public hands at the hospital, so we can have transparency, accountability and real-time oversight of the hospital’s performance and rebuild community confidence.
“We owe the brave parents of Joe Massa, the parents of baby Harper, and other patients who have been let down by the hospital to get this right.”
The audit office examined whether the public private partnership was effectively and efficiently delivering public services. It received 191 submissions from patients and some staff. Most of the contributors reflected negatively on their experience with the Northern Beaches Hospital. Many contributors were concerned about the quality of care they experienced or witnessed at the hospital.
According to the report it is not. It found:
- The hospital is not effectively delivering integrated, high-quality health care and that the partnership structure creates a tension between commercial objectives and clinical outcomes.
- Quality concerns persist, including elevated rates of hospital-acquired complications such as falls and birth trauma.
- The hospital often fails to meet its own contractual targets. Emergency performance, in particular, remains below expectations.
- Healthscope has been slow to address longstanding clinical safety risks
- There are significant risks to the partnership’s long-term viability.
“I’m also particularly concerned that there is accuracy of the data identified by the audit office that raises further performance questions.
“This report, along with the current parliamentary inquiry, are building an overwhelming case for the NSW Government to act. The formation of a taskforce by the NSW treasurer this week to investigate Healthscope - the hospital’s operators who have said they are open to returning the public services to public control - show they mean business. This is a good sign.
“Joe’s Law that will prohibit future public private partnerships put forward by the NSW Government is a step in the right direction, but we still have to undo the partnership at the Northern Beaches Hospital.
“This whole process is going to be like unscrambling an egg and will take time. It needs to be done carefully and we need to protect patients, staff and make sure taxpayers are not delivering windfall profits to the current hospital owners. We can’t afford to get this wrong again.
Ms Scruby encouraged everyone who has a story to tell or an opinion to make a submission to the current NSW Parliamentary Inquiry, established after a joint appeal to the government with Micheal Regan, the independent MP for Wakehurst.
“I keep seeing stories and comments on social media, but these will only have impact if they are submitted to the inquiry. This is an opportunity for the community to influence what happens next. I’m urging everyone to make a submission. It doesn’t have to be long. It can be made confidentially. Contact my office if you need help, but every voice will add to the weight of evidence piling up in support of returning public health services to public hands.”
Submissions can be made via my website: https://www.jacquiscruby.com.au/nsw_parliamentary_inquiry_into