Rachel Stephen-Smith said repairs had stopped on fire damaged theatres but Calvary had denied this

Ms Stephen-Smith said, in a press conference on Thursday, that she understood repair work had stopped on three theatres. She repeated the claims later in the Assembly saying she had heard this from staff at Calvary.

However, Calvary regional chief executive Ross Hawkins said there had been no disruptions to the repairs since the acquisition was announced.

There was an electrical fire in an operating theatre at the hospital last December. The fire shut the hospital's seven theatres and the maternity ward for one month.

Three theatres remain closed after they were "significantly damaged" during the fire. The theatres suffered damage due to a combination of fire, water and smoke.

Preliminary investigations have found the cause of the fire was an electrical fault with equipment in the theatre.

Ms Stephen-Smith said works on the theatre had been halted in response to a question in the press conference about whether July 3 was a realistic acquisition date. She said the date had been chosen to ensure continuity of service.

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"We want to ensure continuity of service, we want to ensure the least possible disruption and some examples of that would be the rebuild of Calvary's theatres," she said.

"There was a fire in the theatres at Calvary Public Hospital in early December last year, the construction work to rebuild those theatres is still under way.

"They are currently operating on three theatres rather than seven and we understand that construction work has been halted while the legislation was before the Legislative Assembly."

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But Mr Hawkins said repair work was progressing.

"Work on the repairs and recommissioning of operating theatres and the perioperative suite at Calvary Public Hospital is progressing," he said.

"There has been no disruption to the works following the ACT government's advice of their intention to compulsorily acquire Calvary Public Hospital."

Legislation to allow for the acquisition passed the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. However, Calvary has commenced legal action against the government and has sought for an injunction to halt the takeover.

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