Hobart Private Hospital

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The Hobart Private Hospital is a 146 bed private hospital located in the central business district of Hobart adjacent to the Royal Hobart Hospital. It is owned by Healthscope, one of Australia's leading providers of hospitals, medical and pathology centres.The Hobart Private Hospital provides private health care specialising in the areas of emergency, cardiac, maternity, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, urology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, respiratory medicine, rehab and general surgery.History- The Hobart Private Hospital was established in 1999 following the Government of Tasmania's decision to privatise the Queen Alexandria maternity wing attached to the Royal Hobart Hospital. Many were opposed to the privatisation of the wing, but it was a policy agenda of Tony Rundle's Liberal Party (in power 1996-1998) to privatise the bulk of Tasmania's public infrastructure.Australian Hospital Care Limited purchased the site following the sale of the Queen Alexandra wing in 1999, but soon found themselves compulsorily purchased by Mayne Nickless.Despite the Liberal Party's determination to make their policy of privatisation of public infrastructure work, the private sector in Hobart, which is a relatively small market, was already well served by Calvary Hospital, St Johns Calvary Hospital and St Helens Private Hospital, and Hobart Private was experiencing financial difficulties within months of opening. Despite frequent requests from the board of the Royal Hobart Hospital to the Tasmanian Government for them to reacquire the site in order that the RHH could make much need expansions, the owners of Hobart Private refused to sell unless all three of their Tasmanian Hospitals were bought in one package.