Jacqui Scruby MP welcomes Northern Beaches Hospital moving into public hands, urges clarity on private hospital services

Independent Member for Pittwater, Jacqui Scruby MP, has today expressed her support for the NSW Government’s decision to bring the Northern Beaches Hospital (NBH) into public ownership, urging a careful transition that allows valued private services to continue and avoid increased strain on the public system.

Ms Scruby said: “The failings of the public-private partnership model adopted at Northern Beaches Hospital and need for change have widespread support from the Northern Beaches community and all sides of government.” 

This announcement marks an important turning point for our community. For too long the public-private model at NBH has failed the northern beaches community. We now have the opportunity to deliver a public hospital that is publicly run, with proper nurse-to-patient ratios and systems that place patients ahead of profit.”

This move follows the collapse into receivership of Healthscope, not just with respect to NBH but across the entire group of 38 hospitals it operated, with media reports of limited interest from the market.

Audit reports, inquiries and recent tragic events have exposed systemic failures, including unsafe conditions, repeated warnings about dangerously low staffing levels and cost-cutting measures that placed pressure on standards of patient care. 

The Northern Beaches community has been calling for these failings to be addressed, and there is now multi-partisan recognition that acute public hospital services should not be run by a private company. 

“The transition to public operation offers the chance to align Northern Beaches Hospital with the standards expected by our community: robust staffing, integration into the local health network and clinical leadership focused first on patients, not profit.

“While public services must be strengthened, the hospital’s private services are world leading and highly valued by the community with approximately 75% of residents having private health insurance. To ensure a smooth transition, the Government must work closely with private providers to give health professionals and patients certainty that these services will continue to provide choice and ease pressure on the public system.

“The Government must provide certainty: ensure private services remain, provide clarity on operator arrangements, protect staff and reassure the community that both public and private services will flourish. I will continue to work closely with the Minister and local clinicians to make sure that happens.”

Media contact: Tiffany Elvy | Phone: 0408 229 611 | Email: [email protected]
Office of Jacqui Scruby MP, Independent Member for Pittwater