Northern Beaches Hospital

Northern Beaches Hospital
Northern Sydney Local Health District Healthscope
Main Entrance of Northern Beaches Hospital
Geography
Location	Frenchs Forest, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°45′03″S 151°13′58″E / 33.750751°S 151.232880°E / -33.750751; 151.232880Coordinates: 33°45′03″S 151°13′58″E / 33.750751°S 151.232880°E / -33.750751; 151.232880
Organisation
Care system	Medicare (Australia) Private
Funding	Public For-profit
Type	General
Network	NSW Health Healthscope
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	488
Helipads
Helipad	(ICAO: YXNL)
Number Length Surface ft m 1 concrete
History
Opened	30 October 2018
Links
Website	www.northernbeacheshospital.com.au

Northern Beaches Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Main foyer of Northern Beaches Hospital

Atrium of Northern Beaches Hospital

The Northern Beaches Hospital is a hospital in Frenchs Forest, located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

History[]

In May 2013 the State Government announced the Northern Beaches Hospital would be built in Frenchs Forest. Upon its completion it became the primary hospital for the Northern Beaches, with Manly Hospital to close and Mona Vale Hospital to be downgraded.^[1] It is operated by Healthscope.^[2] In December 2014, Leighton Contractors were selected to build the hospital.^[3] The hospital opened on 30 October 2018.

As part of the project, a series of road enhancements were made to the adjoining Forest Way, Wakehurst Parkway and Warringah Road by a Ferrovial/York Civil joint venture.^[4] Upgrades were completed in mid-2020.

The hospital is both a private and public hospital, and it is expected that 40% of beds will be reserved for private patients. Doctors are paid less to treat public patients than those with private health insurance.^[5][6]

Since opening, the hospital has attracted criticism, with a doctor's union accusing the private operator of being "incompetent" and driven by "profit before patient care".^[7] The hospital has also experienced problems with insufficient staffing numbers and lack of basic medical supplies such as insulin. Dr Tony Sara, from the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation of New South Wales, told the ABC that "There is not a complete and proper blood bank...There are ongoing reports of lack of medicines, lack of forms and clinical policies and processes." In February 2020 the hospital was the subject of a parliamentary inquiry which found "the public-private hospital model had the potential to negatively affect people from lower socio-economic backgrounds", recommending that the government not implement public-private public hospitals in future.^[8]

References[]