Calvary proposal the right way forward

ACT Health Minister, Katy Gallagher MLA, said today that the Government had considered the feedback from the community and had decided to proceed with plans to buy Calvary Public Hospital.

“This has been a difficult decision for the Government, however, as difficult as it might be, we have to consider the entire community and this proposal will deliver a more affordable and sustainable health system for all Canberrans,” Ms Gallagher said.

“The Government needs to invest $200 million into the Calvary Hospital campus at Bruce over the coming years in order to increase the service capacity to meet the expected increases in demand. This is a significant investment and under the current arrangements the Government would have to gift $200 million to a third party, namely Little Company of Mary Health Care (LCMHC).

“The Government would be remiss in its duty to responsibly manage the Territory’s finances if it were to dismiss such important considerations.

“There were few concerns expressed through the community consultation process about the Government’s proposal to purchase the hospital, however, the proposal to transfer ownership of Clare Holland House (CHH) to the current operators, LCMHC, did reveal significant concerns.

“However, I am confident that concerns about the proposed future arrangements for Clare Holland House can be addressed through the concessions I’ve been negotiating with LCMHC to respond to those concerns.”

Those concessions include:

• a right for the Territory to resume ownership of CHH at any time if there are concerns about the quality of the service provided;  
• a review of the CHH service agreement every five years after the transfer of ownership;
• the establishment of a Community Oversight Group for a period of two years following the transfer of ownership to monitor service standards at CHH against the National Palliative Care Standard; and
• a detailed review by ACT Health of Palliative Care services in the ACT to identify any service gaps or issues that have not been identified through either the ACT Palliative Care Strategy 2007-2011 or the Capital Asset Development Plan.

The Government has also committed to a range of additional safeguards as follows:

• amendments will be drafted to the Public Sector Management Act 1994 to accommodate the changed employment arrangements for Calvary Public and CHH and establish a right of return to the ACT Public Service for all current CHH employees who accept an offer of ongoing employment with CHH and maintain continuity of employment at CHH;
• arrangements will be put in place to ensure continued access to Commonwealth superannuation schemes for all current employees of CHH; and
• ACT Health will conduct a review of staffing and funding arrangements for CHH.

These concessions and safeguards are in addition to those already included in the proposal which:

• guarantee that the Government will continue to fund 100% of the services at the hospice;
• restrict the land use to the provision of public palliative care; and
• restrict LCMHC’s ability to sell the hospice to another provider.

“The parties will now work together to develop a final proposal, with the amendments to be reflected in the Transfer Agreement,” Ms Gallagher said.

“This proposal enables substantial investment in the Bruce campus and provides for a new private hospital for the north of Canberra, delivering a state-of-the-art health precinct which will be good for patients and good for health professionals.”

An Appropriation Bill enabling the purchase to go ahead will be introduced into the Legislative Assembly in the first sitting period next year with all members urged to support the proposal.

18 December 2009