Manly Observer: The NSW Health Minister told a packed community forum last night that the government would do “everything they can” to return Northern Beaches Hospital public services back into public hands, but stopped well short of committing to taking over the hospital in its entirety.
The forum, attended by hundreds of concerned residents, comes amid ongoing criticism of the public-private partnership model that has plagued the hospital since it opened in 2018. Community members have repeatedly raised concerns about staffing shortages, long wait times, and the complex dual model that sees public patients treated alongside private patients under the same roof.
While a number of privately operated public services could return to public hands, it remains that most of the hospital is privately run, but with public components, and not within the government’s remit to take over. In the words of Pittwater MP Jacqui Scruby, who co-hosted the forum with Wakehurst MP Michael Regan – it’s very hard to unscramble an egg.