January 12, 2016
The South Burnett Regional Council will hold a special meeting next week to discuss the future of the South Burnett Private Hospital.
Councillors have been poring over a due diligence report on the facility prepared by consultants Ernst and Young.
It is expected the report will show the hospital has been profitable since it was acquired by Kingaroy Shire Council in 2002, except for the past two years when bed occupancy rates dwindled from a long-term average of 70 per cent to as low as 25 per cent
This led to former hospital managers Pulse Health incurring losses of $100,000 in 2013-14 and $170,000 in 2014-15.
Pulse Health stopped running the hospital on June 30 last year.
But when a week-long “Save Our Hospital” campaign to assess community feeling attracted almost 10,000 signatures to keep the hospital running, Mayor Wayne Kratzmann began a so-far fruitless search to find another operator to take it over.
In September, with the hospital’s licence about to expire, Council voted to investigate taking over the operation of the facility itself.
They engaged specialist health consultants from Ernst and Young to prepare a full due diligence report so Councillors could properly assess all options.
Mayor Kratzmann also negotiated with Queensland Health for an extension of the hospital’s licence.
The final report was delivered in mid-November, and in late November Mayor Kratzmann confirmed it suggested the hospital could be profitable again if it could achieve an average 50 per cent bed occupancy rate.
A decision on the matter had initially been expected at the December 9 meeting.
However, the issue was deferred at the last minute because a potential hospital operator emerged and expressed interest in inspecting the facility.
At next week’s special meeting, Councillors will decide which of several possible options they should pursue:
- Take over the operation of the hospital, appoint an experienced medical administrator to run the facility, and task them with returning it to profitability as quickly as possible, or…
- Keep the facility “as is” until another operator can be found to take it over, or …
- Close the hospital down and look at other options to keep the building in use
The special meeting will be open to the public.
Update January 13, 2016: At Wednesday’s Council meeting it was announced the special meeting will be held at the Council Chambers on Monday, January 18 at 9:00am.
Related articles:
- South Burnett Private Hospital Decision Delayed
- Hospital Decision Soon
- Council To Vote On Running Hospital
- Council Candidate Claims ‘Ego, Emotion’ For Hospital Decision
- Talk Of ‘Plan B’ Angers Mayor
- Doors Still Open At Private Hospital
- Mayor Hits The Road
- What More Can We Do?
- Huge Response To Hospital Campaign
- Why I Want To Be Mayor
- Mayor Appeals For Public Support
- Council Still Looking For Hospital Operator
- Still A Glimmer Of Hope For Hospital
- Hospital Deadline Looming
- Council In Talks With Qld Health
- Why We Need Our Private Hospital
- Closure Would Be ‘Absolute Disaster’
- Fingers Crossed For Private Hospital
- Mayor Off To Brisbane For Hospital Talks
- Mayor Gutted Over Hospital Closure
For a small indebted country council to take on the additional expense of operating a private hospital that loses $100,000 in 2013-14 and then $170,000 in 2014-15 and most likely will continue to do so well into the future is unrealistic. Ratepayers should not be forcibly burdened with this added expense at a time when this communities has no capacity to absorb any further increase in preferential rates spending.
Good to see you back, Jack, and as usual I disagree with you. If the hospital lost $270,000 in the last two years, it was only because Pulse Health put in no marketing effort and failed to apply for several Queensland Health contracts that would have secured it a steady flow of patients (eg: chemotherapy).
And if all it takes to turn this hospital back to profitability is to lift bed occupancy rates from 25% to 50% (ie get an extra 5-6 beds filled), then I’m all for it. Remember, this hospital had an average 70% bed occupancy rate for 12 of the last 14 years and has been a profit-earner longer than it’s been a money loser.
And to you Rod a happy New Year. Unfortunately, patient numbers had dwindled to single figures prompting Pulse Health to deem this facility unprofitable. A fourth option not proposed by council or private health supporters, some 10,000 signatories, is to form a private healthcare company and purchase the hospital from council. This proposal would satisfy both camps. Private health supporters will retain their hospital whilst removing any financial risk to ratepayers.