September 21, 2015
Independent consultants will be hired by the South Burnett Regional Council to crunch the numbers ahead of a proposal for Council to take over running the South Burnett Private Hospital.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann announced at a media conference on Monday morning that Council would apply to transfer the operating licence for the hospital from Pulse Health.
When this occurs, and Pulse Health had agreed in principle, it could re-open as a fully operating hospital as early as February 1 under a new management structure … if councillors approved the plan at their October meeting.
Council would hire a health specialist for the day-to-day running of the hospital, and would invite more health practitioners to take a role in a reinvigorated Management Board.
About 70 jobs were lost when the hospital stopped receiving patients on June 30.
However, Pulse Health agreed to keep the licence for the hospital active until September 30 to give Council 90 days to find a new operator to take over management.
Mayor Kratzmann said despite the best efforts of council staff and himself, no new operator had been found who was willing to take over the hospital before this deadline ran out.
He said Queensland Health had no issue with the licence being held in Council’s name, or with Council running the hospital as the provider.
“If the licence was to lapse, my view is that the hospital more than likely would never re-open,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
Mayor Kratzmann said Sydney-based Ernst & Young would be engaged to do due diligence of the South Burnett Private Hospital operation and provide a high level revenue and cost forecast model.
He said these consultants had a range of experience in the health and hospital sector including projects undertaken for the Royal Adelaide Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst, the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service, and the Gold Coast District Hospital.
Mayor Kratzmann said he had spoken to all councillors about the proposal and was confident a majority would support the decision.
“This is a decision that Council is considering for the benefit of the South Burnett community,” Mayor Kratzmann said. “It is a commitment to the community, to health and to our residents’ lives.”
Mayor Kratzmann said he had warned that the General Hospital would not be able to cope if the Private Hospital closed.
“That statement has been seen to be true over the last six to eight weeks,” he said.
“The General Hospital has wonderful staff, wonderful doctors but with the antiquated facilities they’ve got, and now the over-crowding that they’ve got, they are really struggling to cope.”
He said would continue to lobby for a new General Hospital for Kingaroy, but there was also a role for a Private Hospital in Kingaroy.
He said Council was running out of time.
“We also cannot afford to lose visiting specialists, and if we wait much longer they will be gone,” he said.
Mayor Kratzmann said he would be calling a meeting of doctors and visiting specialists next week to discuss Council’s plan.
He believed there were a lot of grants that could be accessed to assist with the hospital.
“I will also investigate the formation of a fully-accredited Hospital Charity Status as another stream of revenue,” he said.
Mayor Kratzmann said he was willing to stay on the Board after March (when he retires from Council) – if they wanted him – and would offer his services on a voluntary basis to lead fund-raising for the hospital.
“There is a huge benefit to the region if the hospital stays open,” he said. “We can’t go backwards. We have to retain what we’ve got.”
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Video Of Media Conference
(Video courtesy SBRC)
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Didn’t the mayor say that Council couldn’t run the hospital? Why now is council considering voting to run the hospital? Go back and listen to the mayor’s speech in Council chambers.
Why was it reported a few weeks ago that he would consider Plan B. Wasn’t plan B reported in the media as a local person at no cost to the rate payers? Who is going to pay for the accounting study? Look at the hospitals that the accounting firm has worked with. No regional hospital.
Fact: Pulse Health was operating a loss. Who is going to pick up that loss? You, the ratepayer will pick up the loss.
What about the visiting specialist that has decreased over the time council held the licence extension. I couldn’t see a visiting specialist there because they stopped coming.
It is time to ask honest questions of this mayor and council.
Jane, let’s get the facts right…
Normally I don’t comment but this is about saving our Hospital and if you think we don’t need it, well I disagree.
Yes, I did say I didn’t want Council to run the Hospital but I have failed to find another provider… for that I apologise.
However I received over 10,000 signatures to Save Our Hospital and I intend to fight for its survival. In 3 months of non-stop work to find a provider, I have gained a great deal of information and I believe we can keep the doors open.
With no provider, Council became the only alternative in the short timeframe I had left… simply transferring the Licence gives us some breathing space. We won’t hold the Licence for some time but there is light at the end of the tunnel. No licence no Hospital.
Council will, of course, pay for the due diligence and that is necessary and prudent.
I am in contact with all the specialists as we speak .
I now have approx 5 weeks to gather all the information needed to provide to Council so that we can make an informative decision. All I am trying to do is keep a Hospital open which will employ a lot of great local staff and to see if it can be run successfully and financially profitable.
For our region to prosper in the future this infrastructure is vital. It’s also about looking after our community and our elderly who deserve a facility like our Hospital.
Jane, bag me if you like but whilst there is a chance we can save our Hospital I will exhaust every avenue there is and I believe there is a chance.
The right person in charge, a skilled and passionate Board, a committed fundraising team, our doctors’ support and, most importantly, our community’s support and we might achieve something that others couldn’t.
Say what you like but I love the South Burnett. This is my home, always has been and always will be and I refuse to give up the fight until my Councillors and my community tell me to.
Good on you Wayne, I like the fire in your belly. This hospital needs saving and Kingaroy needs it. Many people like myself on Disability Pensions need many forms of surgery to remain alive. Kingaroy Hospital is limited in what it can do, so we patients are sent to Brisbane or Toowoomba to see specialist or surgeons which is of great inconvenience with regard to travel. If only we could be seen here instead, our quality of life would be so much better.
I hope the SBRC is successful in taking over the SBPH.
Mayor Kratzmann do you believe that 10,000 signatures is your social licence to operate? I say that your 10,000 signatures was based on you finding an operator not being the operator! You have misled the community yet again!
Well done Kratzie, responsible action to support the South Burnett community’s wishes.
Right from day one I have been saying that the council was gearing up to operate this hospital themselves. I have researched and seen proof that this was their goal. I fear this move as it is not the role of council to run a private hospital. Even if the hospital is profitable or sustainable they do not have the knowledge or skills to do so. The facts are against the Mayor and he seems unwilling to see them and is wanting to keep a private hospital open at any cost.
I am concerned that the Mayor is so off track and is adding the costs of his ego driven #saveourhospital campaign with trips here there and everywhere and now an expensive Ernst and Young report. 10,000 signatures from men women and children does not mean that they will want to pay for a private hospital or even use it. I wonder how many people would have still signed if they knew that they were going to have to pay for it?
Also is the Mayor aware of the exact amount of loss per month that Pulse Health was running at because I have heard a figure that is very large.
He asked for signatures for free. Now ratepayers need to be worried that their rates might include a private hospital levy or called a community hospital levy.
I am saddened at the hospital closure and that it is currently helping no patients. I received a fax from a specialist that they will no longer visit and another has expressed a concern of the number of local referrals. The specialists are already decreasing and this has all occurred under your council and Mayor’s watch.
Mayor Kratzmann, are you aware that the new Haly Street practice which is the old Eduarde Strete practice was closed for approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Do you not think that this has contributed to the workload at the general hospital?
I know that the last 6 to 8 weeks we have tried to see as many patients from the closed practice as we can and have been spilling out our waiting room door. The General Hospital is doing a fantastic job and the added GP workload I’m sure is the biggest contributing factor not the closure of the private hospital.
Mayor, I could have saved the ratepayers the expense of the Sydney-based Ernst & Young due diligence, as I can present you with the statistics, facts and figures at no charge. I can explain to you and your fellow councillors the reasons why no operator would take on the hospital but if you want to waste the ratepayers’ money when I and all the knock backs have done their due diligence then who can stop you?
I don’t believe that your fellow councillors will, because the ones I have spoken to have told me that you are the one handling it as the decision maker.
[Editor’s note: Mike Brown is running for Mayor at the next Council election]
John, is it responsible action for the Mayor to ask council to run a private hospital that was operating at a loss? Would you take on a business that was operating at a loss?
Fact is the bed numbers were down. Pulse health was operating the private hospital at a loss.
Mayor, why are you getting council to get a Sydney accounting firm to do a due diligence? I would assume that every operator you approached did their due diligence and has evidentially said no to running the private hospital.
Why then are you putting the ratepayers at risk of higher rates or a private hospital levy? ayor you are retiring and have no control over the next council and their potential to impose the costs onto rate payers.
Mayor, when you asked people to sign your save our hospital petition, it was for you to find an operator not for council to be the operator.
Jane, I agree that it would be totally irresponsible to continue to run the hospital in the manner it was previously being run by Pulse Health. A very high percentage of the South Burnett voting public indicated they want the Private Hospital to remain open.
I believe the Mayor has worked very hard to make that request happen. I also believe that the current course of action being taken by the Mayor is a very responsible. Throwing the baby out with the bath water before completing a full in depth Business Case would be irresponsible of our elected representatives. When all the facts of the Business Case are presented, I’m sure our elected representatives will make the correct decision. If you don’t agree with the final decision or any other decisions made by Council, you and any other ‘nay sayers’ have the perfect opportunity to do what Michael Brown has done – stand up to be elected or shut up.
Hi John. I obviously disagree with your faith in Mayor Kratzmann and the council. The Mayor thinks a misleading rally to find an operator is proper public consultation yet the fact was that he presented the public with a positive feel-good campaign with an alter motive. This is not the first time council has wanted to run the hospital.
No one can deny that 10,000 signatures in the time frame is not overwhelmingly supportive, however I question the results based on the facts that the numbers using the facility were down, it was closed at Christmas, and the public were convinced to sign out of fear that the general hospital would be over run and crowded. Also people who signed had no inclination that council was the plan B.
Also I am not a naysayer about the hospital, I just see that it is a huge financial undertaking to council who admits they are already doing far too much outside their scope. If the facility was up to the strict private health fund standards and the equipment was all still there then maybe Kingaroy might still have a private hospital operator other than council keeping it open.
Correct me if I am wrong but didn’t the private hospital become unviable because the people of this area didn’t support it? I realise if the ambulance is called they have to take the patient to the general hospital, but once the condition is sorted couldn’t the patient have been transferred to the private hospital and have their own GP look after them? What is the point of having private cover and then going to a public hospital? I believe that the public hospital bills the private health fund anyway. Is this correct? I think it is up to us to use the hospital when it re-opens. Use it or lose it.
Sheryl, incorrect. The ambulance does not have to transport you to a Public Hospital. I’ve recently had an Emergency situation & requested to be taken to a Private Hospital. This was complied with.
Does anyone know if there has been any investigation into making the facility part of the General Hospital? I’d be interested to know if this avenue has been looked into, because let’s face it, our General Hospital has seen better days. Perhaps some outpatients services and visiting specialists currently at the General Hospital could be moved to the private hospital facility?
The South Burnett Private Hospital does not have an Emergency Department so therefore QAS can not deliver emergency cases to that facility.