Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last we've been discussing over the last couple of days.
The concerns around Healthscope remain in place. Health Scope indeed
announcing that they're going to continue operating and there will
be no impact on hospitals staff or patients. We do
know though, that Healthscope's parent entities have entered into receivership
with its lending appointing McNicol McGrath Nikola should say restructuring
(00:24):
to work with Healthscope management to complete an orderly sale
of the business. They're saying the operational business which runs
the hospitals is not in receivership. However, we know the
group has thirty seven hospitals. One of those is the
Darwin Private. Now joining us on the line from the
Australian Nursing and Midwiffrey Federation's Northern Territory Secretary Cath Hatcha,
(00:50):
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Cath, Good morning Katie and good morning listener. Kath.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
What was your reaction when you had learned, well, we
officially learned, I guess what had happened with health Scope yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
In a way, I wasn't surprised because we knew that
the company from Canada was in financial strife, and they'd
already been closing maternity services here in Hobart, so it
wasn't a complete surprise.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, that was the feeling that I got, all the
sense that I got. We'd sort of been told yesterday
morning and had spoken about it on air yesterday morning
that health professionals could see this coming or knew that
it was coming. Nonetheless, Kat, people must be feeling quite
concerned at the moment. How are our nurses and midwives
taking the news?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
The ones that are working in the maternity unit here
at GPH felt like they've had a double whammy and
they've been told in February the unit's going to close,
and now you know there's the They say that the
hospital is not going to close, but you know there's
always that risk of perhaps the Darwin Private Hospital might
(02:07):
close and all of their other colleagues through the rest
of the hospital could lose their job as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Well, and Kath, we know that more than six thousand
nurses and midwives alone are employed by health Scope across
the country. How many do we have here in the
NT do you know we're at the Darwin Private Hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
We have one hundred and twenty four members but we
wouldn't capture the whole hospitals nursing and midwifree workforce, so
you probably add another thirty percent on top of that
and it'd be about the right number.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And in terms of you know, the impact that this
is having at the moment, have you already had nurses
in contact with you from the Darwin Private Hospital who
are worried about what it's all going to Maine.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
After it was announced, Like you said, I heard yesterday
morning as well that there was going to be an
announcement yesterday afternoon, so I had already prepared an FAQ
so frequently asked questions about three pages worth and also
put an email together and waited for the announcement to
(03:25):
happen and then sent that to our members at the
Darwin Private And so far we haven't had any touch
base from except just the maternity unit that we're already
dealing with, and they felt, you know, sickening that one
they're losing their job at maternity unit, but felt that
(03:49):
it's disgraceful and disgusting what's already happening to the other
hospitals around Australia with Hellscope.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, CAAs, how are things progressing for our nurses and
my wives from that maternity unit. I know that you
know that we continually sort of get messages coming through
wondering if the redundancy has been sorted for those nurses.
What's the go at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Out of the fourteen permanent members that we have there,
oh sorry, staff that are there, they've had two only
so far that have had redundancy packages. The rest we
have said to divide their time. Don't approach any other
(04:39):
employer to receive a contract until after the sixth of June,
and we'll just have to wait and watch see what
the employer is going to come up with and whether
we need to take their cases to the Fair Work Commission.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Look, I do hope today I looked after and that
you know that the right thing happens here, Kath in
terms of the situation with health Scope more broadly at
the Darwen Private Hospital. I mean we were speaking to
the Australian Medical Association doctor John Zorbis a little bit
earlier this morning. You know, what do you think needs
(05:17):
to happen on both the Northern Territory and also a
federal stage in terms of you know, ensuring or doing
their best to try and ensure that things don't change
when it comes to the Darwen Private Hospital continuing to operate,
because I would imagine that it would have a big
impact if it collapses on the private sorry on the
(05:38):
public system as well.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, it would have a huge impact on Royal Dalen
Hospital if it did close or some of the facilities
needed to close. We have a unique issue here in
DPH where Healthcope don't own the building. They sold that
off about six years ago and they built the mental
(06:04):
health facility at Darwin Private Hospital and so they're renting
their building back from the Northwest Healthcare Real Estate Trust. Yes,
so that's not the case for all of the buildings
around Australia. I'm led to believe that the land here
(06:28):
at where dah And Private sits on is owned by
Health Goat. But I don't know how that can happen,
that they can buy the building or sell the building
and still own the land. But that's what I've been
told by a very reliable source who used to work
at dah And Private Hospital and they were a few
(06:50):
years ago. I don't know what they're paying now that
they were paying two million dollars a year in Rent.
Now that's not the case around the rest. I was
led to believe by the National Secretary of the A
and MS yesterday that other hospitals of health Scope are
owned by health Scope, but some might sit on government
(07:13):
land and all their own land, so everyone is a
bit different. They're hoping that a buyer might come along
and buy the whole thirty seven hospitals, or worst case scenario,
a few companies come along and buy all of them,
(07:34):
but not all of them together, so individually they might
buy ten, fifteen and then so on to the other companies.
I hope that well, they're saying at the moment that
none of the hospitals are going to close, so I
hope they're true to their word with that with the
Healthscope CEO. But you know they as we know with
(07:56):
the unit here, they said for six months prior to
the announcement of closing of the maternity unit that they
weren't closing, but in fact they knew that they were
going to. So can we trust them, I don't think so.
They are private enterprise, that there are nons you know,
(08:17):
they're there for profit. There's only six out of the
thirty seven hospitals around Australia that do make a profit.
The other thirty one are not making a profit. And
apparently dah And Private Hospital is making a profit, so
why would they want to close the maternity services here
at dah In Private. That really made me angry, and
(08:43):
the ones that we have spoken to in the last
twenty four hours they're angry too. So yeah, we'll just
have to watch this space Katie.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
We are going to have to all be watching it
very closely. Kaz I always appreciate your time. Thank you
very much for having a chat with us this morning.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Thank you
Last we've been discussing over the last couple of days.
The concerns around Healthscope remain in place. Health Scope indeed
announcing that they're going to continue operating and there will
be no impact on hospitals staff or patients. We do
know though, that Healthscope's parent entities have entered into receivership
with its lending appointing McNicol McGrath Nikola should say restructuring
(00:24):
to work with Healthscope management to complete an orderly sale
of the business. They're saying the operational business which runs
the hospitals is not in receivership. However, we know the
group has thirty seven hospitals. One of those is the
Darwin Private. Now joining us on the line from the
Australian Nursing and Midwiffrey Federation's Northern Territory Secretary Cath Hatcha,
(00:50):
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Cath, Good morning Katie and good morning listener. Kath.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
What was your reaction when you had learned, well, we
officially learned, I guess what had happened with health Scope yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
In a way, I wasn't surprised because we knew that
the company from Canada was in financial strife, and they'd
already been closing maternity services here in Hobart, so it
wasn't a complete surprise.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, that was the feeling that I got, all the
sense that I got. We'd sort of been told yesterday
morning and had spoken about it on air yesterday morning
that health professionals could see this coming or knew that
it was coming. Nonetheless, Kat, people must be feeling quite
concerned at the moment. How are our nurses and midwives
taking the news?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
The ones that are working in the maternity unit here
at GPH felt like they've had a double whammy and
they've been told in February the unit's going to close,
and now you know there's the They say that the
hospital is not going to close, but you know there's
always that risk of perhaps the Darwin Private Hospital might
(02:07):
close and all of their other colleagues through the rest
of the hospital could lose their job as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Well, and Kath, we know that more than six thousand
nurses and midwives alone are employed by health Scope across
the country. How many do we have here in the
NT do you know we're at the Darwin Private Hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
We have one hundred and twenty four members but we
wouldn't capture the whole hospitals nursing and midwifree workforce, so
you probably add another thirty percent on top of that
and it'd be about the right number.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And in terms of you know, the impact that this
is having at the moment, have you already had nurses
in contact with you from the Darwin Private Hospital who
are worried about what it's all going to Maine.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
After it was announced, Like you said, I heard yesterday
morning as well that there was going to be an
announcement yesterday afternoon, so I had already prepared an FAQ
so frequently asked questions about three pages worth and also
put an email together and waited for the announcement to
(03:25):
happen and then sent that to our members at the
Darwin Private And so far we haven't had any touch
base from except just the maternity unit that we're already
dealing with, and they felt, you know, sickening that one
they're losing their job at maternity unit, but felt that
(03:49):
it's disgraceful and disgusting what's already happening to the other
hospitals around Australia with Hellscope.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, CAAs, how are things progressing for our nurses and
my wives from that maternity unit. I know that you
know that we continually sort of get messages coming through
wondering if the redundancy has been sorted for those nurses.
What's the go at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Out of the fourteen permanent members that we have there,
oh sorry, staff that are there, they've had two only
so far that have had redundancy packages. The rest we
have said to divide their time. Don't approach any other
(04:39):
employer to receive a contract until after the sixth of June,
and we'll just have to wait and watch see what
the employer is going to come up with and whether
we need to take their cases to the Fair Work Commission.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Look, I do hope today I looked after and that
you know that the right thing happens here, Kath in
terms of the situation with health Scope more broadly at
the Darwen Private Hospital. I mean we were speaking to
the Australian Medical Association doctor John Zorbis a little bit
earlier this morning. You know, what do you think needs
(05:17):
to happen on both the Northern Territory and also a
federal stage in terms of you know, ensuring or doing
their best to try and ensure that things don't change
when it comes to the Darwen Private Hospital continuing to operate,
because I would imagine that it would have a big
impact if it collapses on the private sorry on the
(05:38):
public system as well.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, it would have a huge impact on Royal Dalen
Hospital if it did close or some of the facilities
needed to close. We have a unique issue here in
DPH where Healthcope don't own the building. They sold that
off about six years ago and they built the mental
(06:04):
health facility at Darwin Private Hospital and so they're renting
their building back from the Northwest Healthcare Real Estate Trust. Yes,
so that's not the case for all of the buildings
around Australia. I'm led to believe that the land here
(06:28):
at where dah And Private sits on is owned by
Health Goat. But I don't know how that can happen,
that they can buy the building or sell the building
and still own the land. But that's what I've been
told by a very reliable source who used to work
at dah And Private Hospital and they were a few
(06:50):
years ago. I don't know what they're paying now that
they were paying two million dollars a year in Rent.
Now that's not the case around the rest. I was
led to believe by the National Secretary of the A
and MS yesterday that other hospitals of health Scope are
owned by health Scope, but some might sit on government
(07:13):
land and all their own land, so everyone is a
bit different. They're hoping that a buyer might come along
and buy the whole thirty seven hospitals, or worst case scenario,
a few companies come along and buy all of them,
(07:34):
but not all of them together, so individually they might
buy ten, fifteen and then so on to the other companies.
I hope that well, they're saying at the moment that
none of the hospitals are going to close, so I
hope they're true to their word with that with the
Healthscope CEO. But you know they as we know with
(07:56):
the unit here, they said for six months prior to
the announcement of closing of the maternity unit that they
weren't closing, but in fact they knew that they were
going to. So can we trust them, I don't think so.
They are private enterprise, that there are nons you know,
(08:17):
they're there for profit. There's only six out of the
thirty seven hospitals around Australia that do make a profit.
The other thirty one are not making a profit. And
apparently dah And Private Hospital is making a profit, so
why would they want to close the maternity services here
at dah In Private. That really made me angry, and
(08:43):
the ones that we have spoken to in the last
twenty four hours they're angry too. So yeah, we'll just
have to watch this space Katie.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
We are going to have to all be watching it
very closely. Kaz I always appreciate your time. Thank you
very much for having a chat with us this morning.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Thank you
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