Mayor Wayne Kratzmann and Cr Damien Tessmann will be leading the charge to save the South Burnett Private Hospital

May 2, 2015

South Burnett Regional Council is willing to offer Pulse Health the use of the South Burnett Private Hospital building in Kingaroy rent-free if they agree to keep the doors of the facility open.

This would mean a slug to the Council Budget of $60,000 per year.

Phillipa Blakey, the CEO of the Sydney-based Pulse Health, admitted yesterday the future of the private hospital in Kingaroy was “under consideration” after the company dropped a bombshell to Council in an email saying the facility could close on June 30.

South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann, speaking at the official Relay For Life launch on Friday morning, told his audience of business people that the South Burnett had to “rise up” to overturn the decision of Pulse Health.

“There’s something the people of the South Burnett simply must do,” he said.

“(It has been reported that) Pulse Health are going to close our private hospital on June 30. This simply can’t happen.”

Mayor Kratzmann said the decision by Pulse Health could be changed but only through “people power”.

“South Burnett Regional Council, the Board – which Cr Tessmann and myself are on – have been trying to keep (the private hospital) alive ever since I’ve been the mayor,” he said.

“It looked like we might have lost it a few years ago but we were able to renegotiate a lease with Pulse Health.

“But they just sent us an email  during the week that due to lack of support, lack of numbers – they need bed numbers around 12 per day, they are currently around five or six.

“Simply, if the hospital closes it will not reopen because the requirements to reopen a hospital that is not open – as strange as that sounds – would be far greater than what we’ve got down there at the moment.

“Cr Tessmann and I are in negotiations with Pulse Health as we speak and our staff are doing a lot of work.

“Your Council has done everything in our power. We agreed during the week at a meeting to give them a complete rent respite so we would not charge them rent, which is a blow to Council finances.

“But that’s how important Council believes the hospital is.

“Through South Burnett Directions we are so close to getting chemo services at the private hospital.

“Someone remarked to me yesterday when I spoke about it, “Well, it’s only for those  people with private health insurance”

“I find that absolutely disgraceful that anybody in the South Burnett could say that.

“Yes, that is a part of what the hospital service does but it also has all those specialists that come up there, it is also for our returned servicemen who have a Gold Card whether they have private health insurance or not.

“It simply can’t close.

“I tossed and turned last night to think about it and I thought. well we as a Council have done all we can to keep it open but we need to do more. and that’s people power. It’s as simple as that …

“We can change this. We can change Pulse Health. We can change their decision if the people of the South Burnett and everybody (gets together), whether you have private health insurance or not …

“Pulse Health staying open will keep people alive.

“We debated as Council about whether we could afford to give it to them rent-free and save $60,000. But what’s a life worth? Much more than $60,000 …

“If other people want to have a go at me and say: ‘You are spending ratepayers’ money’, well, I am happy to take them on and stand on the top of a mountain and say ‘We have to keep our hospital open’.

“We need your support. We need all the media’s support to get behind this. We need the people of the South Burnett to rise up and say this is not good enough.

“We need to tell our doctors that they need to send their patients to Kingaroy for day surgery, for minor surgery, not to Toowoomba.

“We need people who have got private health insurance if you have to go in for a small operation, to say you need the (Kingaroy) service.

“We need to tell the public hospital to stop treating private patients in the public hospital because once Pulse Health closes the South Burnett Private Hospital we won’t have enough beds in the Kingaroy General Hospital to cover for everybody who gets crook in the South Burnett …

“So it’s really important. We need to do it. We need to change it around … we need to stand up as a group in the South Burnett and say “enough’s enough” we want to keep our hospital.

“And with your support Damien and I as Board members will lead that charge and hopefully the decision that they made this week.”

Pulse Health CEO Phillipa Blakey (Photo: Pulse Health)

 * * *

Pulse Health issued a statement this afternoon:

Pulse Health, the ASX-listed operator of the South Burnett Private Hospital in Queensland, confirms that the future of the Hospital is under consideration.

It is loss-making and has been struggling for some time to improve profitability.

Pulse Health CEO, Ms Phillipa Blakey, said today the company is now considering the future of the hospital, and will be meeting with staff, doctors and other stakeholders within the next two weeks for discussions.

Pulse has been working closely and confidentially with the South Burnett Regional Council which owns the building to find ways to improve its financial performance.

southburnett.com.au asked Ms Blakey if the review of the South Burnett Private Hospital was in any way linked to Pulse Health’s current development of a new surgical hospital on the Gold Coast, to open in September, or its April 30 acquisition of a mental health facility, The Hills Clinic, in Sydney.

The Hills was purchased for an initial payment of $27.7 million cash after Pulse negotiated a new $42 million debt facility with the National Australia Bank.

No there is no link.

  * * *

Who is Pulse Health?

The listed company currently operates eight private hospitals and a community care business in Queensland and NSW.

It describes itself as a niche operator of specialist private hospitals.

It is currently developing a new 24-bed surgical hospital on the Gold Coast which will have six operating theatres. This is due to open in September this year.

In a presentation to shareholders in February,  CEO Phillipa Blakey and CFO Mark Hays described the South Burnett Private Hospital as an acute surgical and medical hospital with 22 beds and a single operating theatre. They noted that bed utilisation “fluctuated with seasonal demand”.

In a performance overview, shareholders were told Pulse Health’s revenue from its hospitals had continued to grow over the  past five years, rising 13 per cent to $28.22 million.

The South Burnett contributed 4 per cent of this, equivalent to Pulse’s facility at Bega. Other hospitals listed were Mackay 5pc, Gympie 11pc, Eden 20pc, Forster 27pc and Westmead 29pc.

In the half-year to December 31, 2014, Pulse Health reported a net profit of $1.26 million, up 36 per cent from the previous year.

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18 Responses to "May Day Call To Save Hospital"

  1. I’m with Council and don’t want to see our private hospital close. I have no idea what I can do to keep the doors open. The visiting specialists have saved us many trips to Toowoomba.

  2. My husband and I are dismayed that the private hospital may close. We were hoping that having chemo therapy administered at Kingaroy instead of long trips to other centres would soon be available. We have already had many out-patient procedures carried out at this hospital. We support the council in their endeavours.

  3. The South Burnett regional council has been funding the South Burnett Private Hospital for some time, $250,000 annually according to an LGAQ press release.

    The added $60,000 would mean rate payers are now be subsidising a Private Hospital to the tune of $310,000 a year. Not accounted for are the on-going maintenance costs and the recent roof replacement some $330,000 cost to rate payers may well exceed that reported thus far by council.

    To stand atop the mountain demanding rate payers continue supporting a Private Hospital over looks the financial variability of this private health institution and patronage by local residents. Private health and health insurance companies enjoy significant financial support from all levels of government ranging from direct cash injections into private hospital to tax concessions for privately insured members.

    “We need to tell the public hospital to stop treating private patients in the public hospital because once Pulse Health closes the South Burnett Private Hospital we won’t have enough beds in the Kingaroy General Hospital to cover for everybody who gets crook in the South Burnett.”

    Private patients as taxpayers have every right to use the public health system and often are accommodated in private settings.

    Beds are also available at Murgon, Wondai, Nanango and Cherbourg public hospitals with emergency fly outs to larger centres unaffected.

    As sitting Board members of South Burnett Private Hospital and incumbent South Burnett regional council representatives questions as to a clear destination between these two responsibilities have not been established.

  4. The answer is complex. A simple aspect of the problem is population and jobs, something which is highlighted by the number of empty houses, those for sale as well as closed shops in surrounding towns of the South Burnett.

    • I have no idea what you mean by this, Jack, but my father had a Gold Card and had multiple stays at the South Burnett Private Hospital over the last three years of his life, and it didn’t cost him one cent. The fact is, he would have died probably three years earlier, if the hospital wasn’t there.

  5. Anne, you should be aware that not all veterans hold a Gold Card. Jack is quite right and sighting Gold Card Fact Sheet will reveal the eligibility required and even then it is judged on merits by the respective DVA body who very carefully judge the veterans reasons / claim for a Gold Card. There’s a lot to it.

  6. As I understand it, the old St Aubyns hospital was purchased by Kingaroy Shire Council in 2002 when it closed. Kingaroy Council put a hospital operator in to run the place soon after. There have been a couple of these since – Pulse Health is the latest – but the real cost to ratepayers of running this service has probably been very close to nil.

    Yes, the Council did spend $250,000 last year fixing the building’s roof, the same way it spends money every year to keep all other public facilities in good shape (such as the Murgon PCYC’s roof and the Nanango Cultural Centre’s roof). But this was a one-off. So if the Council does give Pulse rent-free status – a big if – the annual cost would be $60,000, not the $310,000 that’s being claimed.

    I agree with all the other commenters who want to keep this facility in this area. Locals can get access to specialist services that are unavailable unless they travel long distances to Toowoomba or Brisbane. That’s tough enough if you’re really crook, and downright cruel to our aged residents. Let’s not forget that this facility also keeps 20 or so locals in full-time jobs. These jobs would disappear if it were closed.

  7. This is a private health provider operating from a building purchased by the previous Kingaroy council with councilors and senior staff holding positions on the administration board.This association precedes the 2002 purchase by Kingaroy shire council with councilors and or senior staff members holding directorates in 1982 then St Aubyns hospital.

    Work related to maintenance restoration activities began after purchase by Kingary shire council to meet regulatory standards prier to reopening as a private hospital.As the landlord Kingary shire council thus rate payers, funded these renovations until amalgamation.Restoration work then continued with some $330,000 for reroofing whilst a considerable ongoing internal renovation program continues to this day.

    The works undertaken thus far are not comparable to either the Murgon PCYC’s roof or the Nanango Cultural Center,neither having a annual ongoing cost of $60,000 to rate payers if a rent free status is adopted by council.

    The mind set that private health care should be a funded anachronism of public health policy
    confirms the long term financial viability of independent private health care in the South Burnett remains unachievable.

  8. Wow! Umm why not tender the centre out or even bring in specialists into the centre to make it viable. We already have to travel long distances for specialist care. Why not make the hospital a Private Hospital with Specialist care. Surely the decision may have been made too quick before all options are considered. Bring the radiography clinic in or other health care providers. I know as a health care provider it’s hard out there but there are options. True, we don’t want to see this facility close but rate payers now paying more? Options is all I could say.

  9. Jack, have you even seen the PCYC? Their roof replacement job is so big that it’s being carried out over two years. And the money spent on the Nanango Cultural Centre fixing the rotted floor, putting in a new coldroom, repainting it, replacing the furniture, and fixing up the leaking roof and other drainage issues is not trivial. So yes, these two projects are directly comparable.

  10. To refurbish an acute Medical and Surgical hospital to meet accreditation requirements and maintain those standards into the future compared to the PCYC and Cultural Center?

  11. Rod, that is a silly comment. You sure do have a penchant for promoting “Kingaroy” at any cost along with your cronies. By the way, did you know that during the time prior to the amalgamation of the local shires, Kingaroy had supposedly wanted the other shires in the S.B.L.G.A. to share the funding for the treatment plant at Kingaroy. Gee how crass is that, and Damian, that did not come from pub talk! Don’t you guys think it is time to stop sniping at anything not based in Kingaroy? History tells many stories …

  12. “Disgruntaled” , you must really be ashamed of your town, which I guess is Wondai, otherwise you wouldn’t be so defensive (or paranoid?).

    I don’t have any grandparents buried in the local cemeteries so I’m not a local, but I have lived in a couple of South Burnett towns now and they all have their plusses and minusses.

    Town pride is one thing, but one-eyed bloody-minded parochialism is another.

    I consider myself a resident of the South Burnett. My rates go to projects from Boat Mountain to Blackbutt. Remember that multi-million road slip on Boat Mountain? Only a handful of people use that road, but I helped to pay for it. And how about Campbells Bridge which is out in the western donga somewhere. I will never use it and apparently only a couple of farming families actually do, but my rates will help fix it up to the tune of a few million. And my rates are helping to install drains in Blackbutt. Then there’s all those miles and miles of road out around Boondooma. I am paying for them.

    So I think the rest of the region can chuck in a few dollars to fix the sewage system in Kingaroy. After all, if you don’t and the plant fails again like it did during the floods, the council could face a massive fine. You will be paying that, and then paying for the plant too.

    No amount of whingeing, “Disgruntaled”, is going to bring back the four local shires that were rammed together to form one council. Get over it. Move on. I didn’t like it either and it cost me a heap of money but your complaints make as much sense now as it would have been back in 2005 if the people in Baynes Street, Wondai, complained about their rates being spent on projects in Greenview Road, Wondai.

    Be proud and positive about the South Burnett, the whole region, and cheer on all the projects that will be good for it all even if doesn’t benefit your few square metres.

  13. Disgusted, of all the shires people Kingaroy’s society elite alone support this council’s demand. You fear change the brake down of the old financial monopolies the loss power to control this shires people.In every town village and back country lane to the streets of Kingaroy the ever-increasing calls for leadership reform cries out. Do you hear them, Disgusted, do you hear their cries above the jingling coins of self desire. Do you defend the indefensible and force payment from those less fortunate then you. Are you blind to their hardships or would you have them cower before you bent and twisted to your lavish desires. Do you care only for the aristocratic social elite, that class of social authoritarianism that lay claim to be benevolent leaders of common folk.

  14. Jack, I will just put down my spoonful of caviar to answer you …

    No, I don’t fear change but I suspect you do. You want things to go back to the way they were before, but they can’t because the world has changed, and the State and Federal governments won’t pick up the bills any more.

    Now, if you wish, feel free to cower before me bent and twisted while I finish off this lobster thermidor.

    PS. My pockets don’t jingle, I use plastic.

  15. re.Disgusted May 5. Matey, you are acting like a confused blowfly in a strange dunny. Refer to “Council Finances Get Thumbs-Up” of March 17 and a preceding news item and you will find a few councillors and others patting their backs puffing up after the latest Q.T.C. report with claims of how bad financially Murgon, Wondai and Nanango were.

    Refer also to the second last edition of “Murgon Moments” re the silly claims made and you will then find “one-eyed bloody-minded” parochialism. Then along comes Rod, May 3, having another go, so I was pointing out that perhaps if Kingaroy had kept up with upgrades they may have been no better off than the others. I do not dislike Kingaroy in fact I have soft spot for it. In fact the South Burnett region is as good as any and better than some in which to live [what are you doing here if it was not?]

    I don’t mind criticism where warranted and I believe that those that want to gloat without real reason should inform themselves fully before sounding off. What does “Grandparents buried in local cemeteries” have to do with anything?

    The council works you mention are basic works that councils do, that is what they need to do and rates cover this, so what is new and what is wrong with that. Now let us be fair here and accept that probably
    Kingaroy perhaps should have replaced the treatment plant when it became distressed about 25 years ago [it would have been cheap then].

    It would be good if you did a little bit of proper research and then maybe you will learn how and why things have happened to turn out as they have.

    I would also wish the guys well in their quest re Hospital issues.

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