The closure of St Helens Private Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania will throw countless lives into utter disarray and likely be a fatal mistake. We urgently need your help.

The closure will mean the loss of 31 mental health beds and an 8 bed mother and baby unit. In addition to this, in-patient programs, 10 day programs, out-patient support and specialist alcohol and drug detox programs will be lost.

Worse still an expert team consisting of 7 Psychiatric Doctors, including a Professor of Psychiatry aligned with the University of Tasmania, will no longer be available to patients through St Helens Private Hospital.

These Doctors deliver critical life-saving treatment and intervention, including Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

A further 97 strong staff including Doctors, nurses, support staff and their families will also be directly affected as of June 2023 - losing their jobs.

Thousands of their patients have been welcomed into the Hospital, providing individual medical and lifestyle support for those with serious and ongoing mental health conditions.

The Hospital not only supports the general population but has also been a lifeline for many years for Australian Defence Veterans and front-line emergency service workers such as nurses, ambulance officers, police officers and fire-fighters.

The Hospital also offers a Mother Baby Unit which delivers specialised care as a family centred service. Paediatric and psychiatric assistance will no longer be available to families through the Hospital.

This multidisciplinary team which includes paediatricians, psychiatrists, nurses, midwives, psychologists and social workers will now be lost. Perinatal and postnatal services also lost.

The true cost of losing a specialised Hospital like this is well beyond the millions of dollars lost directly in jobs and wages. It is a social cost that will be reflected in more negative health statistics and mental health crises, in a health system already overburdened and unable to cope.

The damage to the State of Tasmania will be devastating. There is not a suitable pathway forward, provided by either Healthscope or the Tasmanian State Government.

We need to continue to remediate the lives of some of our most vulnerable people and stop this disparity.

Prime Minister Albanese promises "No one held back, and no one left behind." Australian Prime Minister - The Guardian - 25 July 2022.

• Federal Government to spend $240 million on a new stadium.
  As part of a total $741 million price tag without the additional blowout costs.
  
  AFL licence to cost State of Tasmania $144 million over 12 years for the team and $60 million to establish a high-performance centre in Hobart.  ABC News - May 2023.
  
  Tasmanian Liberal Government to spend $440 million on AFL stadiums which represents the equivalent of about 5.7 per cent of total Annual State spending.  ABC News - April 2023.
  
  Investment to save St Helens Private Hospital by Healthscope, Federal or State Governments zero dollars $0,000,000.00.
  
  Imagine what $1 Billion dollars could achieve for Mental Health Services in Tasmania - a new World-Class Hospital to start. 
  
  
  
  “How can we put a roof over a stadium but not fix the roof of a hospital?”  Local tradie - 2023.
   
  “We’re building a colosseum the largest of three in Tasmania!” Not Emperor Vespasian or son Titus - 70-72 A.D.
   
  “After 4 centuries the arena fell into neglect much like Tassie's health system.” Keen Observer – 2023.
  
  
  
  
• “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease found in people with a long history of head trauma.”  Konrad Marshall – The Age News – 2021.
  
  “Depression. Anxiety. They can’t find their cars, they can’t find their car keys – along with erratic behaviour.”
  AFL player agent Peter Jess – The Age News – 2021.
  
  
  
  
• "It now requires a multi-million-dollar investment to replace the roof, electrical systems and hydraulics." 
  "Unfortunately, this investment ( St Helens Hospital ) is not a viable investment for Healthscope."
  Healthscope CEO - Greg Horan - ABC News May 2023.
  
  "Australian private hospital operator Healthscope has agreed to a $4.4 billion takeover bid from Brookfield."
  Colin Kruger – Sydney Morning Herald - February 2019.
  
  "Healthscope said transaction costs will be $35 million. It has already disclosed it has paid $14 million in advisory fees." Jemima Whyte – Australian Financial review - May 2019.
  
  "Prior to his appointment as CEO of Healthscope, Greg Horan was a Managing Director in Brookfield Private Equity Group" (4.4 billion takeover bid).
  - Healthscope website - May 2023.
  
  
  

Hold the powerful to account
From parliament ignoring big issues, to companies ripping people off. By chipping in, we'll be able to meet with politicians and companies nationwide to get them responding directly to your petitions.

We require your support to keep the St Helens Private Hospital alive by providing a lifeline. Profits over people is abhorrent behaviour.

Please sign and share the petition and consider any positive actions to change you can make. You can make a difference.