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Speaker 1: In less than a month. We know that health Scope,

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Speaker 1: the operator of Darwin Private Hospital, is ceasing maternity services,

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Speaker 1: leaving expectant mums in Limbo. We spoke earlier about this

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Speaker 1: with the Health Minister and the private packages which have

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Speaker 1: been announced, but reports in the Australian newspaper this week

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Speaker 1: have cast doubt on the future of health Scope's private

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Speaker 1: hospitals as a whole. And a man who's been following

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Speaker 1: this situation very closely is Ken Moffatt. Now. Ken is

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Speaker 1: from the Australian Independent Retirees NT branch.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Ken, Good morning Gatie.

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Speaker 1: Ken I said earlier, you're almost like an assistant producer

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Speaker 1: to us on this topic because you have been following

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Speaker 1: this really closely and it's actually incredibly helpful letting us

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Speaker 1: know what is going on. But what's the situation as

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Speaker 1: you understand it at the.

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Speaker 2: Moment, Well, the situation is getting a little bit more

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Speaker 2: dire of each day goes by, as we hear that

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Speaker 2: now Brookfield have withdrawn from the whole process and handed

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Speaker 2: the Healthscope back to the lenders. Now that may stave

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Speaker 2: off some of the individual hospitals being caught in a

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Speaker 2: liquidation issue. But I don't know whether it goes overly well.

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Speaker 2: The more you read in the articles, the more you

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Speaker 2: can suggest that many of the private hospitals will close.

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Speaker 2: We're in a unique situation here in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: where we only have one private hospital. The thing that

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Speaker 2: I don't know, and I'm not sure whether our government

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Speaker 2: up here knows, is what is the financial health of

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Speaker 2: Darleen Private Hospital, Because if it's not particularly good, then

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Speaker 2: Darleen Private Hospital could be one of the vulnerable hospitals

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Speaker 2: to just simply closure as being just too hard. The

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Speaker 2: whole thing with Healthscope has been They've been badly managed

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Speaker 2: and their debt position is untenable. And why we as

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Speaker 2: a country allowed a Canadian fund to buy into our

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Speaker 2: private health system. Their motivation has to only be profit.

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Speaker 2: Their motivation is not about the health of Australians and

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Speaker 2: so I find it quite staggering that the sale to

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Speaker 2: Brookville was allowed in the first place. But we've got

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Speaker 2: this mess and we've now got to see whether or

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Speaker 2: not it impacts us because Darlan's in a unique position.

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Speaker 2: We only have one private hospital, so we are very

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Speaker 2: vulnerable up here, and I believe that the government needs

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Speaker 2: to be on the front foot as it relates to

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Speaker 2: making sure that they have plans in place if it

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Speaker 2: all goes pear shaped with Darwen Private Hospital can.

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Speaker 1: I asked the Northern Territory Health Minister about this this

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Speaker 1: morning and he's sort of, you know, he didn't have

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Speaker 1: a great deal of detail when it came to these

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Speaker 1: further sort of stories that have been reported on in

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Speaker 1: The Australian in recent days. I did also speak to

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Speaker 1: the Australian Medical Associations in t branch president about this,

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Speaker 1: excuse me, yesterday, and he said that he's written to

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Speaker 1: the Health Minister federally and that he really believes that,

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Speaker 1: you know, there needs to be a further look into

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Speaker 1: and there needs to be some legislation potentially in the

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Speaker 1: future stopping foreign investors from actually investing into our private health.

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Speaker 2: You're quite correct that the Federal Health Minister is coming

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Speaker 2: out today swinging saying that under no circumstances is are

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Speaker 2: the FEDS going to get involved in any kind of

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Speaker 2: bailout of the private health private hospital system.

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Speaker 1: Right my goodness.

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Speaker 2: So, I mean, you know that doesn't actually both particularly

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Speaker 2: well either. I don't know whether we're in trouble because

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Speaker 2: I don't know the financial state, but I would suspect

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Speaker 2: based upon some locals who've told me that it's probably

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Speaker 2: a bit of a basket case that we may be

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Speaker 2: down the bottom end of the profitability scale as it

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Speaker 2: relates to private hospitals. What I want to make sure

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Speaker 2: is that the Chief Minister and the Health Minister have

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Speaker 2: actually got skin in the game finding out what the

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Speaker 2: state of the financial situation is for the day and

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Speaker 2: private hospital and if it is powerless, and if it

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Speaker 2: is a problem, then they should be making some conversations

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Speaker 2: about what would happen if they decide to close the doors.

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Speaker 2: What options are there available now listening to the Treasure,

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Speaker 2: I didn't hear the interview in real time, but I

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Speaker 2: heard it again this morning, and thank you for bringing

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Speaker 2: that up with it. Look, I don't think there's money

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Speaker 2: in the till of the Northern Territory government, but somebody

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Speaker 2: needs to start putting something in place, because if it

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Speaker 2: goes pay shot, if the hospital actually closes, even if

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Speaker 2: it's only for a short period of time, there will

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Speaker 2: be a mass exits out of the territory. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, and also though you know, for those of us

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Speaker 1: that are here, that is set to stay. It's going

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Speaker 1: to mean that our Royal Darwin Hospital obviously faces more

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Speaker 1: pressure as a result of any of those patients having

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Speaker 1: to go across there. So however you look at it,

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Speaker 1: it's going to have an impact on all territorians. Ken,

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Speaker 1: I think the point you make is a really good one.

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Speaker 1: I actually think no one's expecting the Northern Territory government

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Speaker 1: has the funds to be able to bail out this

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Speaker 1: private operator. But I do think that there need to

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Speaker 1: be having a close look at this now before it

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Speaker 1: becomes an issue, so that there are potentially some plans

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Speaker 1: in place.

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Speaker 2: Look talking to some people who've been involved in thet

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Speaker 2: of the hospital and health system here in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: they have the belief that a consortium the doctors up

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Speaker 2: here might be willing to actually get involved in some

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Speaker 2: sort of buyout of the private hospital. But like, you've

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Speaker 2: got to be on the front foot doing this. You

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Speaker 2: can't wait until it's been put into liquidation and they

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Speaker 2: close the doors to actually see whether because then you're

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Speaker 2: going to get a mass exodus of people out of

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Speaker 2: the health system going into state to get jobs because

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Speaker 2: they just lost theirs. So it's about I don't know

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Speaker 2: whether that's a possibility, but like, we need to look

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Speaker 2: at what options there are or who might possibly take

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Speaker 2: over the hospital, And I don't know. I've got no

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Speaker 2: background in the health system, so I have no idea

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Speaker 2: who might want to be involved. But look, the government's

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Speaker 2: got to start asking some questions to see whether there's

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Speaker 2: a Plan B, because Plan A doesn't look real good

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Speaker 2: right now.

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Speaker 1: No, Well, Ken, we did as I said, We did

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Speaker 1: put it to the Health Minister this morning. He didn't

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Speaker 1: seem to know a huge amount about it. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what is your message? What's your message for the government today?

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Speaker 2: I think the government, between the Health Minister and the

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister, somebody needs to get on top of this.

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Speaker 2: It's not going to be easy to get hold of

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Speaker 2: the records of the financial stability of Royal Dam and

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Speaker 2: private hospital, but somebody's got to do it. We've got

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Speaker 2: to know whether we're at the bottom of the pile

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Speaker 2: or at the top of the pile. At the top

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Speaker 2: of the pile, go back to the pub. But if

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Speaker 2: we're at the bottom of the pile, somebody needs to

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Speaker 2: think about what would happen if because if we don't

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Speaker 2: get on the front foot and have something in place

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Speaker 2: by the time it goes pear shaped. It's going to

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Speaker 2: have catastrophic consequences up here in the territory. I cannot

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Speaker 2: even imagine. We must be losing credibility with the military

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Speaker 2: and the maternity side of things. This would be just

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Speaker 2: another nail in the coffin of anybody thinking of coming

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Speaker 2: to the Northern Territory. And as for the people who

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Speaker 2: are here, particularly the seniors, they're going to be wanting

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Speaker 2: to go somewhere where they've got access to the type

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Speaker 2: of private medical care that we've seen this sometimes need.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Ken, look, we are due as under started

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Speaker 1: to have the Chief Minister on the show on Monday,

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Speaker 1: so we will make sure that we put that to hurt.

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Speaker 1: Thank you as always for your time and for sort

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Speaker 1: of making us aware of what's going on in this space.

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Speaker 2: Now. I'm sorry, I'm not going to be able to

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Speaker 2: help you for the next five weeks because I'm traveling internationally,

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Speaker 2: so I'll just have to wait until I get back

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Speaker 2: to see whether you've sorted.

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Speaker 1: It or out for me what no voluntary assistant producer

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Speaker 1: role for the next five weeks.

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Speaker 2: I'd love too, but you'll have to wait till the

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Speaker 2: end of June.

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Speaker 1: I'm afraid well, considering you are retired, that's probably the

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Speaker 1: right thing to be doing, mate. So I very much

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Speaker 1: appreciate you getting in contact with us and making us

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Speaker 1: aware of this issue.

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Speaker 2: Not a problem. I just hope this gets resolved. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: but I mean, you know, we might have only been

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Speaker 2: here for like sixteen years, but you know, we've got

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Speaker 2: plans to want to say, a bit longer, and it's

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Speaker 2: going to be predicated on the fact that we've got

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Speaker 2: the sort of services that would allow us to stay

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Speaker 2: here spot on.

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Speaker 1: Ken Moffort, always good to speak with you. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Okay, thanks Scodie, thank you