By Steve Painter
The Mayne Nickless conglomerate, whose fleets of armoured cars have sometimes been the target of gun-wielding desperadoes, pulled a heist of its own over the holiday period. With an audacity that makes the Melbourne Club bandits look timid, Mayne Nick got away with a set of 19 contracts giving it control over hospital facilities in Port Macquarie and the neighbouring Hastings River region for a period of 20 years.
In signing the contracts, only one of which has been made public, the NSW government obliged itself to close down the Port Macquarie public hospital and to refrain from reopening it or providing other new public health facilities in the Hastings region for 20 years. In return, Health Care of Australia, which is wholly controlled by the Mayne Nickless board of directors, will build and operate a new hospital in Port Macquarie.
Bob McLelland, of the Hastings Hospital Action Group (HHAG) says this alone is a matter of concern, as Mayne Nickless is currently under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption following allegations of collusive practices by large companies to force small operators out of the transport industry.
Far from being jubilant at the prospect of a new hospital in their city, Port Macquarie residents are deeply concerned, adds Don Mackay, secretary of the HHAG. The contracts will even prevent existing facilities, such as the Wauchope public hospital, from expanding to meet growing local needs.
Mackay says one of the main concerns is that health care is about to become dramatically more expensive as a result of the package, signed on December 13. People with basic private health cover could be priced by out the new arrangements. "It'll be top cover or nothing", he says.
Bob McLelland says this will be a big financial blow to many people, because the basic table in most private health funds is the one designed to provide doctor of choice and share accommodation for people needing treatment in public hospitals. The government provides top-up cover for this table, but not for higher tables, into which many will be forced by the private system in Port Macquarie.
The new hospital will be obliged to provide for people without private cover to the extent of one public bed for every two private ones, but this requirement could be open to manipulation. Local residents fear the 2:1 ratio could be undermined through the hospital's budget. McLelland notes that the budget has been deleted from the public version of the Services Agreement, the only one of the 19 contracts made public so far.
Concern spreads widely in the community. Even local employers are worried that their Work Cover insurance premiums will rise because of by private hospitals.
The HHAG has launched a series of public meetings to discuss the contracts, and begun action under the Freedom of Information Act to find out more about them. Most of the contracts are being kept under wraps, apparently due to "commercial considerations".
The HHAG has noted 15 objections just to the Services Agreement. Residents are particularly concerned that the contracts appear to weaken previous guarantees concerning public health authorities' supervision of the hospital, and a provision enabling state authorities to step in and take control of the hospital in the event of Mayne Nickless/HCOA failing to provide satisfactory service.
Residents are also angered by the fact that the private hospital will not offer some of the services, including dental care, provided by the existing public one. As well, there is no requirement on the private company to expand its operations in step with public demand in an area with a rapidly growing population.
John Hatton, one of three independent members of the NSW parliament, has announced that he will move a censure motion over the contracts as soon as possible after parliament resumes in late February. He will also reintroduce a private member's bill to stop the privatisation. The bill, which has the support of the Labor Party opposition, was narrowly defeated last year after Manly independent Dr Peter Mcdonald sided with the government.