In a move to cut elective surgery waiting lists, the ACT Health Authority moved to boost the number of private hospital beds and reopen public hospital beds.

The bulk of the focus when it came to capacity expansion was on the private sector.

However, there remained unused capacity at public hospitals such as the Canberra Hospital in the Woden Valley, where there was one unused floor with capacity for 150 patients.

The ACT Health Authority was pushing for 170 more beds in private hospitals and an additional 50 public beds over the following five years, aiming for 1250 acute hospital beds in the capital by 1991. The authority argued a "vibrant" private sector would attract more high-skilled and specialist doctors.

However the Trades and Labor council was strongly opposed to the authority's stance.

Trades and Labor Council secretary Charles McDonald said private medical practitioners had put a gun to the head of the ACT Health Authority, and agreeing to their demands was like "putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank".

See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/13034103