It’s supposed to provide free healthcare every day of the week, taking pressure off the busy emergency department next door.
Instead, the GP clinic at Northern Beaches Hospital has been closed at least 18 days so far this year as the private company charged with running the hospital concedes it is struggling to find enough doctors to keep the service running.
Northern Beaches Hospital.Credit: Nick Moir
Healthscope, the company that runs both public and private health services at the Frenchs Forest campus, told the Herald a “national shortage of GPs” would continue to impact services.
“Unfortunately, there have been days when the centre could not operate,” a spokeswoman said. “We apologise for the days that the centre was closed, and any future days when a service cannot be provided.”
The hospital is committed to continuing the service and allowing the emergency department to treat more urgent patients, the spokeswoman said.
Michael Regan, the independent state MP for Wakehurst, raised his concerns about the “intermittent closure” of the GP clinic and the hospital’s general performance in a meeting with Health Minister Ryan Park on Wednesday.
“We have been made aware of these closures by members of the public and in our own personal circumstances when at the hospital with family,” he said. “The staff do a great job at Northern Beaches. However, I have been presented with some alarming information on the health and wellbeing of staff at the hospital which concerns me greatly.”
“We apologise for the days that the centre was closed, and any future days when a service cannot be provided.”
Northern Beaches Hospital spokeswoman
The NSW audit office wrote to Regan this week to confirm that it has begun its investigation into the hospital’s performance.
The audit was flagged after the state government abandoned a plan to build a specialist mental health unit at the hospital, saying Healthscope could not fulfil the commitment despite being promised $7.5 million in taxpayer funds.
“This [audit] will help give us evidence of what is happening and what is required to address the issues being raised,” Regan said.
Asked if the state government had raised performance concerns with Healthscope, Park said: “We expect Healthscope to deliver high-quality healthcare to the people of the northern beaches.”
“We will continue to work closely and constructively with providers to continue delivering high-quality patient experience and care.”
Former GP and current Independent MP for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps.Credit: Nick Moir
Dr Sophie Scamps, the independent federal MP for Mackellar and a former GP and emergency physician, said the clinic was an integral part of healthcare on the northern beaches as it was one of few in the area that still offered bulk billing.
“It was designed to take the pressure off the emergency department by dealing with less urgent cases, such as minor cuts and injuries,” she said. “When it is closed, people are instead forced to attend the emergency department and as lower priority patients they often must wait hours to see a doctor.”
The performance of the emergency department has declined in the past 12 months. The latest Bureau of Health Information data for October to December shows the median time from arriving to leaving rose to four hours and seven minutes, longer than the same period in 2022 and half an hour longer than the state average.
Ambulance ramping has also become an issue, with 15 per cent of patients waiting longer than half an hour to be transferred from an ambulance to emergency staff – the highest proportion since the hospital opened in October 2018.
Healthscope, purchased by Canadian investment giants Brookfield in 2019, recorded a $649 million loss last calendar year as the private hospital sector battles rising costs and tumbling profits.
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