The ACT government has passed legislation to takeover Calvary Public Hospital Bruce.
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The decision has been backed by some in the medical community, but fiercely opposed by Calvary and the Catholic Church.
Calvary has sought legal action, but the government still plans to transition operations away from the Catholic healthcare provider to Canberra Health Services (CHS) in the weeks leading to July 3.
We asked Deputy Director General of Northside transition Cathie O'Neill what will happen in the next weeks and months.
The next week
While the legislation passed on Wednesday, it will likely only become law on Thursday or Friday.
The legislation requires Calvary and ACT Health to agree on how the transition will work, Ms O'Neill said.
Both parties must nominate a senior executive as a contact person. Ms O'Neill will be the point of contact for the government.
"I'm hoping to reach out to Calvary and meet with their appointed executive as soon as possible and agree on plans for a transition period, so we can commence transitioning," she said.
"We have a drafted plan but we want to talk to Calvary and agree on the plan."
Calvary will continue to operate the hospital until July 3, unless that date is changed in "extreme circumstances".
Ms O'Neill expects Cavalry staff and management to work constructively during the transition period, despite Calvary pursuing legal action against the government.
"I've already worked collaboratively in Canberra with a lot of the Calvary staff, many current executive are former colleagues and peers," she said.
Legal action
Calvary has taken legal action against the acquisition.
On Thursday, the organisation sought an injunction to stop the compulsory acquisition in the ACT Supreme Court.
Calvary national chief executive Martin Bowles said he did not believe the government was not able to acquire the hospital under "just terms".
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said "we are very confident that our legislation will stand up to any [legal] challenge".
Ms O'Neill said legal action was unlikely to impact the takeover unless a court made an order.
"My understanding is that the law is still the law until a court overturns it, so legal action doesn't stop the transition period commencing," Ms O'Neill said.
Calvary cannot legally refuse to comply with the transition, she said.
In the most extreme circumstance, police could be called in as enforcement.
Officials would be allowed to enter the hospital and undertake a stocktake of hospital equipment.
The 'best case' scenario
Ms O'Neill hopes she and members of the northside hospital transition team will soon be able to set up a kiosk inside Calvary Hospital.
They also plan to run regular forums for different working groups within Calvary, and organise meetings between similar teams at both hospitals.
"We will be on the ground, hoping to keep workforce fully engaged as soon as we are able," Ms O'Neill said.
It won't be necessary to have everything moved in place by July, Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"There are critical path issues that will absolutely need to be sorted out by the third of July, and there are other issues that can take a bit longer," she said.
"It will be a joint process to work through how that transition goes ahead. That will include engaging Calvary public hospital staff in the process."
Ms O'Neill said the use of the term "takeover" was misleading, and preferred to call the process "a merger".
Patients
Patients should not be impacted by the takeover, Ms O'Neill said.
"The legislation makes sure day-to-day hospital services won't be disrupted," she said.
"This will help staff feel more secure as well."
However, she also said Calvary would be responsible for the operations of the hospital until July 3.
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Calvary CEO Martin Bowles has promised patients and staff would be Calvary's top priority.
"Calvary will continue to provide uninterrupted, quality care to the people of Canberra," he said in early May.
The government is yet to see how Calvary's budget is used, and whether there is scope to increase some services, Ms O'Neill said.
Staff
A first port of call for ACT Health is to issue staff Canberra Health Services work contracts.
"We are ready to issue letters of offer to staff who have submitted forms. As staff accept those letters of offer they will be issued a contract to commence July 3," Ms O'Neill said.
While only 100 of Calvary's estimated 1800 staff members filled out a transition form, Ms O'Neill expects "a flurry of activity" from Thursday or Friday.
Calvary will be required to pass over employee and payroll data.
The government expects some staff will not move to Canberra Health Services, but Ms O'Neill said they do not have an estimate of how many.
"Health staff turnover is high nationally and internationally, and some people will be, for example, close to retirement and want to leave, but we have not heard through information sessions that there's significant intent not to come across," she said.
The impact of staff departures will depend largely on who leaves.
"We have contingencies in place for early notification of gaps and work out with line managers how to stop-gap that," Ms O'Neill said.
Staff will also have to wear different, non-Calvary branded uniforms, from July 3.
Ms O'Neill does not expect there to be much movement of staff, although specialists will be able to easily visit patients across both hospitals once Calvary is acquired.
She said shortages would likely be addressed by agency workers, because both hospitals have their own staffing issues.
Suppliers
Few contractors have come forward to Canberra Health Services, Ms O'Neill said.
"We have a fair idea of major suppliers. There are a few critical services we need to manage but for many of those, we know that there's sufficient supply in the territory if contracts aren't finalised," she said.
Parts of the ICT system will also have to be replaced, with CHS to install new computers that can handle the software they use.
Both hospitals use the new Digital Health Record.
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