Doctors fear Catholic takeover of NSW hospitals will usher in ‘religious doctrine’
Senior doctors at a NSW hospital have demanded the government intervene before an imminent takeover by a Catholic provider they fear will lead to widespread service cuts for expectant mothers and cancer patients.
Calvary Health Care will take over 16 hospitals nationwide by the end of this month after the financial collapse of Healthscope, including four in Sydney and two in the Hunter.
The acquisitions will more than double the hospital portfolio of the Catholic not-for-profit, which has a “mission to bring the healing ministry of Jesus to those who are sick”, according to its website.
Clinicians have raised concerns about the provider’s expansion from 14 hospitals to 30 within a year, affecting about 2140 beds nationwide, with reproductive and voluntary assisted dying (VAD) services at risk at facilities including Norwest Private, Lady Davidson Hospital in North Turramurra, Brisbane Private, Darwin Private and Hunter Valley Private.
Calvary follows Catholic Health Australia’s Code of Ethical Standards, which bars contraception, termination of pregnancy, IVF services and VAD.
The concerns are most acute in Newcastle, where the only private maternity hospital between Sydney and the Queensland border is located. The city is also a major centre for cancer treatment and palliative care.
At Newcastle Private, doctors were informed via email that Calvary’s “clinical governance, mission and ethical frameworks would apply”, but were assured that clinical implications would be discussed “openly and respectfully” before transition arrangements were finalised.
Dr Peter Harrigan, a consultant anaesthetist who has worked at Newcastle Private for 20 years, said Calvary should not impose its values on patients or restrict access to services offered for decades.
“I’m very concerned this institution may refuse to continue services that [Newcastle Private] already deliver, that doctors are already well practised and skilled at ... on the basis of Catholic religious doctrine,” Harrigan said. “I don’t think that is justified.”
Hospital staff described a lack of consultation about which services would be affected, and that a staff forum on October 22 was the first meeting with Calvary leaders. Several doctors in attendance described answers about reproductive and VAD services as evasive.
“They were desperate not to actually say anything definitive,” Harrigan said.
Clinicians said the government should step in and make Calvary’s licence conditional on not cutting existing services.
Community members were invited to “have your say” through NSW Health’s website, but Harrigan said staff were not informed about this. Feedback was limited to 1000 characters and the webpage did not name Calvary, instead referring to it by its ABN entity title, LCMHC 2 Limited.
A Newcastle Private nurse not authorised to speak publicly said: “It feels very tokenistic, when it’s a fail-safe for them to say, ‘well, we did provide this … but we’re not sharing it anywhere, not telling anyone about it, not making it commonly known’.”
Obstetrician Dr Denise Nesbitt, who has delivered between 5000 and 6000 babies in a 40-year career in the region, said restrictions on reproductive services could contribute to a service desert in the region.
Nesbitt said services she was concerned about included tubal ligation during caesarean sections and termination of pregnancy due to foetal abnormalities.
“To take that choice from women in 2026 is really disturbing,” she said, and raised concerns about possible impacts on single mothers and LGBTQ patients and staff.
A doctor at the hospital not authorised to speak publicly said patients at Calvary’s other facility in the region, Calvary Mater, were often transferred to Newcastle Private for VAD. He said this was already a “frustrating” arrangement which would need to be diverted to another service.
Go Gentle chief executive Dr Linda Swan said transfers were highly distressing for acutely unwell patients.
“You’re talking about people who are dying and in the last days of their life,” Swan said. “Transferring them to another facility is incredibly difficult when these people struggle to even get out of bed.”
Swan said even if Calvary staff did not provide VAD, they should allow trained practitioners onsite, and backed calls for the government to intervene.
“This is an issue of government ensuring that there’s fair and equitable access to a legally available healthcare service,” Swan said.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park did not commit to an intervention over the licence transfer but said IVF, terminations, contraceptive procedures and VAD remain available outside of Newcastle Private.
He said the local health district would work to meet local demand for services either within NSW Health facilities or through other local private providers.
Doctors raised concerns about the added pressure this could place on already overstretched public hospitals.
Calvary Health Care declined to comment. NSW Health did not respond to requests for comment.
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