Healthscope won the contract to build and operate the hospital for 20 years under a public-private partnership signed by the former Coalition government.
Under the contract, the state government would pay Healthscope to deliver public services including maternity and the emergency department.
The deal cost taxpayers $2.14 billion over the life of the contract, more than double the $1 billion figure publicised by health minister Jillian Skinner before the 2015 election.
After a shambolic opening in 2018 marred by industrial disputes, botched surgeries and equipment shortages, Skinner’s successor Brad Hazzard shelved plans to privately build and run five regional hospitals. A parliamentary inquiry later recommended an end to public-private hospital partnerships altogether.
Joe Massa died after systemic failures at Northern Beaches Hospital.
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Independent Wakehurst MP Michael Regan requested the audit after hearing a string of horror stories from residents, staff and patients.
A $7.5 million state-government funded plan to build a four-bed adolescent mental health facility was shelved when Healthscope could not guarantee it could open the unit “within the scope of the commitment”.
The backflip infuriated the family of 14-year-old Joshua Gill, whose death just days after being discharged from mental health treatment at the hospital sparked a community campaign.
Healthscope came under further scrutiny this year when Danny and Elouise Massa revealed their two-year-old son Joe had died in September after being left in an emergency department chair for 2½ hours despite showing clear signs of a life-threatening condition.
An internal investigation found serious individual and systemic errors contributed to his death, which is now the subject of a coronial inquiry, and led the government to outlaw future public-private partnerships under legislation dubbed “Joe’s Law”.
A parliamentary inquiry will further examine the safety and quality of services at the hospital, with public submissions closing next month.
Leah Pitman, 34, and Dustin Atkinson, 39, lost baby Harper just hours after her birth.
Then, Leah Pitman and Dustin Atkinson lost their newborn Harper in February after Pitman suffered a placental abruption during labour at the hospital. An obstetrician called an emergency caesarean but this was not performed, and the baby was delivered vaginally.
The hospital’s operating theatres operate under an on-call arrangement from Friday to Sunday, during which surgeons and theatre staff are required to be within half an hour of the hospital. Pitman went into labour on a Saturday.
Healthscope has launched an investigation into the tragedy. The couple told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Wednesday that, in a meeting with senior staff, they were told it was not “economically” feasible to run a 24/7 theatre.
“If we drove half an hour down the street to Royal North Shore, Harper would be alive,” Dustin Atkinson told the ABC. “It’s purely the fact that we ended up at Northern Beaches Hospital on the days that their theatre isn’t open 24/7 that cost our daughter her life.”
Healthscope expressed its “condolences to families involved with the recent instances of failure in patient care”.
Health Minister Ryan Park and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey are expected to address the audit on Thursday morning.
More to come.
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