“It is a press release so heavily laden with spin that the centrifugal forces are likely to leave the smell of its disingenuity spread across the territory,” scoffs political columnist MICHAEL MOORE. 

You may not be aware of it, but the healthcare outcomes of Canberrans have improved no end following the purchase of Calvary Hospital by the ACT government… 

Well, that is the impression created by the ACT government’s media release in early September.

It is a release so heavily laden with spin that the centrifugal forces are likely to leave the smell of its disingenuity spread across the territory.

Now that Calvary Hospital is part of Canberra Health Services “there have been many achievements as staff have worked together across our hospitals to build a single, integrated public health system”. So claims Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith.

The achievements were not listed. No doubt some Canberrans feel that the health services have improved since the forced takeover by the ACT government. I have not met any of them – but Ms Stephen-Smith implies many!

Orthopaedic surgeons were not resigning from Calvary because of the way the administration was undermining their work. It was not Calvary that received a letter signed by 15 orthopaedic surgeons expressing a vote of no confidence in their administration.

No! The letter expressed no confidence in ACT Health and the Canberra Hospital. The same dissatisfaction was followed by the resignations of some anaesthetists. The integration of Calvary Hospital by the ACT government was supposed to improve services. 

It was not Calvary that suffered criticism from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG). This resulted in a temporary accreditation for six months for training in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit of the Centenary Hospital for Mothers and Babies while the management sorted the “challenges”. The concern was that patients were being put at risk.

The final bill for the purchase of Calvary Hospital has been paid thanks to a deed of settlement and release has been reached between Calvary and the Canberra Health Services. Was the money spent in vain? How much money was it?

According to Minister Stephen-Smith, the “settlement includes the payment of $65 million (including interest) in addition to the $23.2 million the territory previously paid to Calvary in early compensation to enable Calvary to cover payments which became due as a result of the acquisition”.

Well, that is the first $88.2million dollars paid for what was a viable and effective service outsourced to Calvary Health Care (ACT). However, it is not the whole financial story. There was also a liability of $46.5 million in compensation for employee entitlements. Then there were legal costs incurred in the order of $30 million for the process. 

In 2023 the ACT government spent more than $160 million dollars to fix a problem that did not exist. This was the same year the ACT lost its AAA+ credit rating.

A report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that Canberra Health Services had failed to meet all but one of its emergency wait-time targets in the year 2023-24. This was in the time immediately following the transfer of the Northside Hospital management from Calvary to the Canberra Health Services.

At the same time, it was reported that the service also “continued to struggle with elective surgeries, with just under 9 per cent of the people on waiting lists having to wait for over a year”. These were the longest waits in Australia.

Calvary Private is still operating in Canberra. The minister argues that “Calvary will also continue to be an important partner in delivering health care in Bruce and across the ACT through its private hospitals and aged care facilities”. 

Moving the focus away from the performance of her own departmental responsibilities, Minister Stephen-Smith stoops to more spin in the form of a meaningless motherhood statement that is intended to make Canberrans feel better about the acquisition and progress being made by the ACT Government.

 “The acquisition was made to facilitate planning and delivery of the more than $1 billion new northside hospital” she explained as “a long-term investment in our public health system that is progressing well with the announcement in March of Multiplex as our early delivery partner”.

Many believe the purchase of Calvary was ideological. At this stage, there is no evidence that the transition has improved health care. What is needed for better health care is strong, caring leadership that listens to staff, encourages them and facilitates their extraordinary work.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.