The Association welcomes the facility’s transfer to public ownership but questions remain about proposals to retain private beds within the public hospital. 

In October 2025, the state government announced it would spend $190 million to buy back Northern Beaches Hospital (NBH). 

The government said it would put the entire 488-bed hospital under the direct control of Northern Sydney Local Health District by mid-2026. 

All hospital clinical and support staff would be offered jobs by NSW Health at the facility and staff entitlements would be transferred to NSW Health. 

As The Lamp goes to print the NSWNMA has become aware that some doctors are pushing for exclusively private beds and services to remain within the public hospital. 

“This would have serious ramifications for the operating capacity of the public hospital,’ said NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish. 

The state government promised that there would a three-week consultation period on the operating models within the new entity. 

“We will continue to advocate for Northern Beaches Hospital to be a public hospital which allows for patients to elect and access private services as we see in other NSW public hospitals,” Shaye said. 

Healthscope, which went into receivership in May 2025 with $1.6 billion in debt, will exit its contract to operate the hospital until 2038. 

The announcement followed months of negotiations between the government, Healthscope and its receivers, to unwind what Health Minister Ryan Park called one of NSW’s worst privatisation experiments. 

Mr Park said the in-principle agreement marked the beginning of NBH’s transition into the public health system. 

“I want to be upfront that this will not be without its challenges, but patient safety sits at the very heart of this hand-back to public ownership,” he said. 

“We have worked with urgency and speed to provide certainty for the community, patients and staff. 

“We thank the staff for their hard work and cooperation as we continue to work through the transition.” 

Hope for stability, transparency, and accountability

Shaye Candish said the government had assured the union that no nurse or midwife at Northern Beaches Hospital would lose their job and leave entitlements would be transferred when the hospital transitions to the public system. 

“We are pleased to see Healthscope and the state government working collaboratively to reach an outcome and provide job security to the thousands of staff employed at NBH,” Shaye said. 

The NSWNMA campaigned against the Baird Liberal government’s public private partnership (PPP) deal with Healthscope in 2014 (see story p14). 

A report by the Auditor-General this year justified the union’s opposition to the deal. 

The Auditor-General found that the privatisation model did not allow NBH to deliver adequate health services and created tension between profit motives and health outcomes. 

“We warned the previous government this would be detrimental to the community and people of the Northern Beaches, but we were ignored,” Shaye said. 

She said transitioning to the public system gives Northern Beaches nurses and midwives “hope for stability, transparency and accountability”. 

“We also look forward to the implementation of the public system’s nurse-to-patient ratios which will provide safer workplaces and quality care that our Northern Beaches community deserves.”