The interests of patients and staff are paramount in the period leading to the sale of the troubled company.

The NSWNMA and the ANMF have been in regular contact with Healthscope management and the NSW and federal governments to advocate on behalf of our members since the private hospital operator’s parent companies went into receivership, says NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish.

“We’ve spoken with the state government about the potential impact on the public-private partnership at Northern Beaches Hospital.

“Separately, we have also held talks with the federal health minister, Mark Butler. He has told Healthscope administrators they must do the right thing by the community, nurses and midwives. We welcome this support,” she said.

“We will continue to hold regular meetings with the federal health minister during this process. We’re also coordinating our efforts on behalf of nurses and midwives with other unions representing non-nursing/midwifery employees as part of an Australian Council of Trade Unions affiliates group, and this is central to our advocacy efforts.”

Healthscope’s parent companies went into receivership on May 26 after accumulating $1.6 billion in debt and defaulting on its lease payments.

“This is the outcome of a series of poor financial decisions by the previous owners, Brookfield. Instead of investing in the company to ensure it could provide quality patient care for the community in the long-term, Brookfield decided to strip Healthscope of its key assets by selling off its hospitals and entering lease agreements with the new owners,” Shaye said.

“This is a typical strategy that private equity firms like Brookfield use when ‘investing’ in healthcare – they want to secure short-term gains for their investors.”

Shaye said the union was focused on supporting our members during this uncertain time.

It had prepared resources to answer members’ numerous questions, had conducted several webinars and had prepared services for members to access if they were anxious or stressed by the insecurity surrounding the company.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the company had adequate funds to maintain operations during the administration process leading to a sale and he expected “that the interests of patients and hard-working staff will be the highest priority through this process”.