Shocking' hospital inquiry urges axing of public-private partnership

A parliamentary inquiry has called for the termination of a public-private partnership at Newcastle's Calvary Mater Hospital, citing "shocking revelations" of patient care failures. The Greens MP and inquiry chair, Dr. Amanda Cohn, stated that staff and whistleblower accounts revealed "maggots falling from the ceiling onto a patient, nurses funnelling rainwater into garbage bins during the night, a doctor fainting during surgery because of high humidity in the operating theatre, and explosive allegations of falsified maintenance records."

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We heard about maggots falling from the ceiling onto a patient, nurses funnelling rainwater into garbage bins during the night, a doctor fainting during surgery because of high humidity in the operating theatre, and explosive allegations of falsified maintenance records.

The inquiry's report recommends the NSW Government bring the hospital, a leading cancer treatment center in regional NSW, back under direct public management by NSW Health. It also suggests analyzing public-private partnerships at Orange and Bathurst Hospitals for potential return to public management. Premier Chris Minns acknowledged the contract was a "costly mistake" but cautioned that undoing it would require careful examination to protect taxpayers.

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All these problems could have been prevented. Hospital management and the NSW government knew about these issues for years, and failed to address them.

The Health Services Union welcomed the findings, with Secretary Gerard Hayes stating that the recommendations must be implemented urgently. He highlighted that union members had raised concerns about mould, water failures, and whistleblower intimidation for nearly a decade, calling the hospital's return to public hands "a moment of accountability." Hayes concluded that the findings send a "clear message about the failure of the public-private partnership model in our health system," warning that staff and patients are put at risk and it is "time to end the failed experiment."

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We're committed to making the situation far better at the Mater. We don't want that privatised model of care