The head of Australia’s largest private hospital operator says a recently approved expansion is just the start of its envisioned growth for healthcare in Joondalup.
The head of Australia’s largest private hospital operator says a recently approved expansion is just the start of its envisioned growth for healthcare in Joondalup.
Speaking at a City of Joondalup Health Innovation event this morning, Ramsay Health Care chief executive Carmel Monaghan said she expected a $77 million revamp to Ramsay’s private hospital to play a critical role in building health infrastructure for Perth’s northern corridor, with room to grow further.
“This will be a fantastic development co-located on the side of Joondalup Health Campus, and we will be going to the board with it hopefully in the next few months,” she said.
“What we really want to see is a big private hospital in the north of Perth, and that will bring specialists, other specialties, robots, lots of things that will complement the public sector.
“We are very much looking forward to a great private hospital on this campus. The first stage is six theatres, 80 beds, but we see growth for this hospital into the future that will really complement the services of the northern health campus and meet the growing population of Wanneroo … and Joondalup.”
Joondalup Health Campus is managed by Ramsay under a long-standing public-private partnership agreement with the state government. With 722 beds, it is one of the largest hospitals in Western Australia. Joondalup Private Hospital is a standalone hospital co-located within the campus.
A separate $256.7 million expansion of the whole Joondalup Health Campus is ongoing, with funding commitments from the state and federal governments.
While the positives for the sector and precinct are clear, Ms Monaghan said challenges persisted from tightness in the workforce for healthcare professionals, including nurses, which the company had prioritised through investments in training.
She considered a predicted shortage of GPs was a big concern for Australia’s healthcare sector (bigger than a shortage of nurses). Deloitte last year predicted a GP shortfall of 11,392 full-time GPs by 2032.
“Australians have a great primary care system, and one of the reasons we do have great health outcomes is that we’ve got great GPs,” Ms Monaghan said.
“But the predictions are that we’ll be 11,000 short by the end of the next decade, and that’s going to be a catastrophe.
“How do we get enough general practitioners into the workforce when about 26 per cent are going to retire in the next five years as well.
“There’s really big challenges across general practice.”
She said funding was allocated in the federal budget to address challenges, but that more work needed to be done to attract new talent to the field.
“Only about 14 per cent of trainees coming out of medical training now want to be in general practice, compared to 50 per cent a decade ago,” Ms Monaghan said.
“That’s a big pivot, and we have to make general practice more attractive somehow.”
Ramsay currently has $1 billion worth of health projects in its pipeline across its business, including the work planned at Joondalup.
