The New South Wales auditor general has handed down a damming report into Sydney’s Northern Beaches Hospital. It comes after the death of a two-year-old boy there last year. The report found the hospital has failed to address safety risks caused by issues with electronic medical records.
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00:00It's been a problematic partnership from the get-go.
00:05Now a scathing report says it's at risk of failure.
00:08The privatisation of public and acute hospital services like this way in New South Wales
00:14is not a model that should be operating again.
00:17Findings by the Auditor-General reveal Northern Beaches Hospital
00:20is not effectively delivering quality health services
00:23and has not sufficiently addressed clinical safety risks.
00:27This was a disastrous model that should never have been applied.
00:31Private operator HealthScope has been contracted to run the public portion
00:34of Northern Beaches Hospital until 2038.
00:38Today's report says that the state might need to take over public health services
00:42earlier than expected.
00:44Exiting these arrangements is very, very difficult.
00:48I'm reluctant to pay out 15 years worth of profit to that private company,
00:52particularly after the last year and a half.
00:54Among issues listed in the report was the failure to fix long-term problems
00:58with the hospital's electronic medical records system,
01:01which could result in important information not being fully considered
01:04in medical decision-making.
01:06The risk became a reality in September 2024,
01:09after the death of two-year-old Joe Massa,
01:12who was incorrectly triaged at the hospital's emergency department.
01:16The government has since introduced Joe's Law
01:18to ban public-private hospital partnerships.
01:21This government, within the short term that it's been in power,
01:25has moved to legislate, has now moved to set up a task force
01:29to get this component of that hospital back into public hands.
01:33In a statement, HealthScope says it agrees the contractual arrangements
01:36with the government are severely challenged.
01:39HealthScope believes it is in the best interests of our staff
01:42and the broader community for an early hand-back of the public hospital.
01:46This is not the way healthcare in New South Wales should have worked
01:50and should be working.
01:51HealthScope has been recommended to resolve its issues by December this year.
01:55HealthScope is not incorporated but clearlyps.
02:00HealthScope was considered.
02:05HealthScope says it leaks – there have been very eyes