A national private hospital operator that specialises in mental health is closing its doors in north Queensland, saying the facility is no longer financially viable.
Aurora Healthcare has run the Mackay Private Hospital for nearly a decade, providing mental health respite and physical rehabilitation beds.
The hospital, which opened in the 1990s, also accommodated up to 21 public patients who were waiting for an aged care bed or NDIS plan.
Aurora warned patients and staff of the closure in late March, citing rising operational and maintenance costs.
Everything from hospital beds to rubbish bins was sold at the hospital in early June. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)
It has played a key role in the region’s public health system as a home for longer-stay physical and mental rehab patients.
Aurora operates 16 private hospitals and mental health clinics across Australia, including six in Queensland.
Patients worse off
Mackay GP Kerry Summerscales, who specialises in veterans’ mental health and has admitted patients to the 34-bed hospital for decades, said she was frustrated by the closure.
“It just makes everything worse,” she said.
Kerry Summerscales says the private hospital offered a unique, much-needed type of care. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)
Dr Summerscales said the hospital’s model of care had encouraged specialists to practice privately at the hospital while also spending time on its wards.
She said she was worried that losing the community of specialists would inevitably lead to poorer health outcomes for patients.
“I hate to burst people’s bubbles, but doctors don’t have all the answers.“
Dr Summerscales said the respite care offered, often for weeks at a time, could not be replicated in the public system or the Mater Private Hospital, which were set up to care for acutely unwell people.
“So now we have to send them to Townsville or Rockhampton or Brisbane, we’re just further isolating them from their family and their support group?” she said.
Veterans missing out
Allan Brogan, a navy veteran of 33 years, sought physiotherapy treatment at the hospital.
Allan Brogan has lived in Mackay since retiring in 2021. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)
Mr Brogan said he had struggled to find a physiotherapist who listened to him before receiving care at the hospital.
“It’s going to be a big loss. It’s a very convenient facility,” he said.
Mr Brogan said his physio preferred to work in the hospital system and until she found a new position, he would need to find alternative care.
Allan Brogan says he has not found another physiotherapist following the hospital’s closure. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)
RSL Central Queensland District deputy president Daniel Peters said the hospital was a hub for veterans’ physical and mental health services.
“It was my first port of call for my mental health issues,” Mr Peters said.
He and other veterans used to meet for a weekly group session at the hospital.
“To break the ice, we started art therapy,” he said.
“I remember vividly, and I still have it in my car now, we got to pick a rock out of a bucket and we had to draw a picture of where we thought the rock came from.
“It wasn’t necessarily about the art that we were doing, it was about just filling in that silence until we got to know each other to start talking,” he said.
No word on public investment
In a statement, the Mackay Hospital and Health Service (MHHS) said 21 public patients had been at the North Mackay Private Hospital when the closure was announced in late March.
The health service said public patients had been discharged or moved to other health facilities.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls referred questions about whether Queensland Health would purchase the hospital to the health service, which declined to comment specifically.
Multiple private hospitals in Queensland have come close to closure in recent years, with many citing a preference to only treat severely unwell people in hospital and poor insurance payouts as key drivers.
Aurora Healthcare operated the Mackay Private Hospital, as well as 16 others across Australia. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)
Mr Peters said the legacy of the hospital lived on each Friday when he met with his support group at a cafe owned by another veteran.
“We’re at the point now where we’re actually helping each other through those mental lapses that we all have from time to time,” he said.
“We have to try and help ourselves at stages too and seek out like-minded people and the tribe.”
The hospital will officially close its doors on June 16.
