ACT health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith today introduced a controversial bill to compulsorily acquire the site of Calvary Public Hospital in Bruce to build a new $1 billion hospital upon it, and transition operation of the public hospital from Calvary to Canberra Health Services (CHS).
“This Bill represents a significant moment in the delivery of public health care for the Territory, and will ensure the most efficient and effective delivery of public hospital services for Canberrans,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“While this decision is a difficult one for Calvary and has not been an easy one for the government to make, this is not a decision about Calvary – it is a decision about providing the best public health system and infrastructure for Canberra.”
- ACT government claims Calvary negotiations failed (11 May)
- New northside hospital to be built on Calvary Public Hospital site (10 May)
But the proposal has been roundly condemned. Reportedly, Calvary was not notified, many staff found out about the takeover through the media, and (according to the Canberra Liberals) the government wants to stifle debate on the bill.
“Calvary is extremely disappointed in the ACT government’s unexpected and unilateral decision to introduce legislation that effectively dissolves our partnership on public health delivery in the Territory,” Calvary national CEO Martin Bowles said.
“Calvary are rightly angry, and the fact the government have decided to forcibly acquire the best performing part of ACT Health is outrageous,” acting opposition leader Jeremy Hanson said.
In his view, the “hostile takeover” was “egregious, undemocratic, disrespectful, potentially illegal, and clearly unethical”. (“Dictatorial”, too, he said in the Assembly; a term the ACT government objected to.)
The Assembly agreed today to debate the Bill before any committee inquiry or report, except for the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety in its Legislative Scrutiny role. That Committee will ask for fortnightly, 30-minute briefings with Chief Minister Andrew Barr, health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith, and mental health minister Emma Davidson, and Canberra Health Service officials.
In making sure any committee could not report before the Assembly debate on the legislation, Mr Hanson said, the ACT Government had “trampled over democratic processes in order to ram through legislation for a forced takeover”.
“This is the most significant legislation put forward in this term of government, and the decision to not follow due process and have a real inquiry to examine this is simply undemocratic …
“It is clear the Chief Minister and his government do not want this shameful act exposed through an Assembly inquiry.”
More scrutiny of the legislation – and a Royal Commission into the health system (a motion the government negatived this week) – were necessary, he said.
“But unless this is subject to a court challenge, it’s going to be very difficult to stop,” Mr Hanson said.
And local Catholics have anathematised the government for this “unprecedented and despicable act”, in terms that recall Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.
“The forcible acquisition of Calvary Hospital is the greatest infringement upon the Church by the state in the history of the Australian Capital Territory … and a plain abuse of Government power and lawmaking,” said John-Paul Romano, spokesman for Catholic Action Australia.
“If the Government intends to forcibly take the assets of the Church, where will they draw the line? Furthermore, it is plainly unacceptable that the Government seeks to infringe on the operations and assets of the Church, [which] has provided affordable healthcare, education, aged care, and social welfare to the Canberra community for over 100 years.”
What the Bill entails
Calvary Health Care ACT holds a leasehold on the land on which Calvary Public Hospital sits.
In 1971, the Commonwealth Government granted Calvary Public Hospital the land and buildings at no cost; the public hospital began operation in 1979.
Since self-government in 1989, the agreement was transferred to the ACT. In 2009, the ACT Government sought to buy the public hospital from Calvary, but the transfer agreement was never implemented. In 2012, the land was transferred to a Crown Lease expiring in 2098.
The Health Infrastructure Enabling Bill 2023, introduced today, would amend the Crown Lease for Block 1 Section 1 Division of Bruce to enable Calvary to retain the lease over its private hospital and health services, Rachel Stephen-Smith said. The ACT would retain the public hospital land as unleased Territory land.
The Bill would also determine the just terms to acquire the land and terminate the Calvary Network Agreement (the ACT Government’s agreement with Calvary, signed in 2011), and transition Calvary Public Hospital Bruce employees, assets, and services to the ACT on 3 July.
Calvary would retain its private facilities: Calvary Bruce Private Hospital and Calvary John James.
Canberra Health Services states that northern Canberra needs a new hospital, and that Calvary Public Hospital would not be fit-for-purpose in the next decade. By 2041, demand for hospital services will be more than double what Calvary Public Hospital delivers now; current capacity and infrastructure limitations would result in longer wait times for patients and an inefficient health service. By 2060, the northside’s population will grow by 285,151 people.
The new hospital, costing $1 billion, would double the number of beds, and offer more services than Calvary Public Hospital offers now, CHS promises. Demolition would start in the next two years, and the hospital would open in 2030.
CHS considered two sites: either the current Bruce campus or a greenfield site in Canberra’s north, and chose the former.
“This is the site where Canberrans have been going for public hospital services for more than 40 years, and where there is a private hospital and other health services, as well as an ACT government-owned multi-storey carpark,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “From the planning we’ve done to date, we also know we can build a new hospital without having to interrupt the delivery of services.”
CHS also considers the Calvary Network Agreement “antiquated”, and not “a modern services contract for the delivery of public health services”. It argues that it is difficult to provide seamless, coordinated care across Canberra, move services across public hospital sites, or share loads in times of heavy demand; while clinical governance and waiting list management are inconsistent across the public hospitals. Conversely, CHS argues, a single public provider would solve these problems.
“It will enable the new hospital to slot into a genuinely integrated public hospital network across the ACT,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
But Jeremy Hanson said he had seen no evidence that “simply absorbing Calvary into ACT Health will end up with a better result. … Doctors we’ve heard from, clinicians, do not support this. They think that what they deliver at Calvary, separate from the behemoth bureaucracy of ACT Health, actually provides a point of difference. [Calvary has] a very good culture, provides a very good service.”
He suspected that the takeover was ideologically driven: “The government does not like the fact that a faith-based organisation is running Calvary.”
Ms Stephen-Smith denied that the acquisition was “an attack on the Catholic Church and on faith-based care”.
