Catholic Healthcare Calvary Buys Up Hobart Private

Calvary has bought Hobart Private Hospital for an undisclosed amount on Christmas Eve, securing the future of the 146-bed facility following mounting uncertainty over the last months.

The deal follows hospital operator Healthscope, which came under $1.6 billion in debt earlier this year.

The Acquisition expands Calvary’s market presence to operate over 3 private hospitals in the Greater Hobart region, already operating the existing Lenah Valley & St Johns campuses.

This makes Hobart unique, making it the only major city in Australia whose hospitals are entirely non‑for‑profit, comprising government facilities and Calvary’s private network.

This in turn, may enable healthcare in southern Tasmania to be coordinated more easily, as the sector has less operators to deal with. It may also see price stabilisation and an increase in trust by the public, but we will have to wait to see this.

However, this shake up could see reduce capacity for specialist treatment which could see more people leaving the state to access those services. The change could also see the sector adopt technology slower with the loss of a for-profit provider and the State government expected to deliver a very tight budget in 2026.

With Healthscope retreating from the capital could see the sector struggle to maintain services, leading to capacity restraints, while Calvary and the RHH rely significantly on federal and state funding. The impacts on this sector may not yet be fully understood until we see the blue book in 2026.

Healthscope alone had to shut down it’s maternity ward in August after failing to recruit enough midwives. Calvary compensated by expanding capacity at it’s Lenah Valley hospital. It remains to be seen if Hobart private will reopen it’s ward, and what expansions or reallocations will occur.

In a statement Calvary said HP stands firm in it’s “commitment to the continuity of care in Tasmania and delivering high-quality, not-for-profit private hospital services”.

“We recognise the uncertainty experienced by staff and clinicians during this period,” he said.

Calvary National Chief Executive Damien Bruce stated that the organisation will collaborate closely with the state government to oversee the ownership transition

“stability, continuity of care and a strong future” were key goals outlined by Mr Bruce.

The sale is still yet to pass ACCC approval and other regulatory hurdles, while the deal follows similar sales by Healthscope.

Earlier in the week, the NSW government paid $190 million to reaqquire Sydney’s North Shore Private Hospital, while Ramsay Health Care accepted to buy National Capital Private for $251 in Canberra.

Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie had repeatedly sounded the alarm over Hobart Private, warning that Healthscope’s mounting financial difficulties put the hospital in jeopardy.

“We just can’t afford to lose that hospital,” he said in May. “The Royal, obviously, is in a perilous state all the time and our health system would collapse if we lost the private.”