A parliamentary inquiry has unanimously recommended Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle be brought into public hands, following evidence of serious infrastructure and safety failures at the facility.
The Inquiry into management, maintenance and operational issues at Calvary Mater Hospital, chaired by Greens MLC Dr Amanda Cohn, tabled its final report in the NSW Parliament this week. Dr Cohn said the inquiry heard shocking evidence from staff and whistleblowers, including reports of maggots falling from a ceiling onto a patient, nurses funnelling rainwater into garbage bins overnight, and a doctor fainting during surgery due to high humidity in an operating theatre.
“All these problems could have been prevented. Hospital management and the [state] government knew about these issues for years, and failed to address them,” Dr Cohn said.
The report recommends the hospital’s public-private partnership be terminated and its ownership brought directly into NSW Health, alongside a broader review of PPP arrangements across the state.
Former Honeywell project manager Luke Carroll, who gave evidence to the inquiry, said he was interrogated and ultimately lost his career after raising concerns about conditions in the cancer ward.
“I knew well for those months that they kept me and their secret hidden, that people were likely to be dying in the cancer ward of the Mater. The weight of that overwhelmed me and I eventually had to act,” he said.
Nurses at the hospital, represented by Dee Spoljaric and Camilla Smith, said staff had “waited far too long for decisive action” and were hopeful the inquiry’s recommendations would be implemented in full.
Separately, the State Government confirmed today that cladding replacement works have been completed on the Mater Institute building and the southern façade of South Block, as part of a broader remediation program launched earlier this year.
Minister for Health and Regional Health Ryan Park said the milestone reflected the government’s commitment to the project.
“We still have some way to go, but the completion of this step of critical works will ensure the continued safety, functionality and reliability of Calvary Mater Newcastle,” Mr Park said.
