By Monty Jacka
Copyright abc
Tasmania’s only large-scale private mental health clinic will be closing down its main site, after years of bleeding cash.
In a statement, the Hobart Clinic said its inpatient site in Rokeby would shut down by the end of October.
The clinic has been providing mental health services for Tasmanians with private health insurance for 40 years.
Dr Stephen Ayre, the organisation’s acting chief executive officer, said the decision was made after cash flow projections indicated it was facing a deficit of $3 million this financial year.
“This had occurred as a result of low private health fund reimbursement and the inability for private patients to pay the increasing gap fees,” Dr Ayre said.
Dr Ayre said the majority of the clinic’s patients are admitted on a short-term basis and the organisation would work to ensure “minimal impact” for patients.
About 100 people currently work at the facility and they will all be paid any entitlements they are owed, the acting CEO said.
The clinic began a “business transformation” last year in a bid to improve its finances, moving from an employed psychiatry workforce model to a visiting medical officer psychiatry model.
Dr Ayre said the clinic knew the move would be challenging, but it was necessary after several years of significant financial losses.
He said the transformation was running 18-month behind schedule, due to financial uncertainty and challenges in recruiting psychiatrists.
“It is a well-documented fact that inpatient mental health services across Australia are under increasing financial stress because of factors including the level of reimbursement and payment by health insurers and national psychiatry workforce challenges,” Dr Ayre said.
The Tasmanian government has helped keep the clinic afloat in recent years by providing more than $3 million in assistance.
The state’s Minister for Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Bridget Archer, said the decision to close the clinic was another disappointing case of privately-run health facilities failing to be viable.
Ms Archer stressed that Tasmanians would still have access to mental health services across the state.
“Importantly, we have significantly increased capacity across the public health system in recent years … with plans for more mental health hubs, including in the Huon Valley and new mental health precincts in the north and north-west,” she said.
Ms Archer said the government would assist the Hobart Clinic as it ceased services for clients and encouraged the organisation’s staff to seek positions within the public health service.
The Hobart Clinic said it would continue to run its outpatient site Mind Hub in the Hobart CBD “for the time being”.
