THE Sisters of Charity Health Service officially withdrew from St Vincent’s Hospital at Robina on Friday, blaming a flawed State Government funding formula.
The hospital has been handed over to Queensland Health.
The 192-bed Gold Coast hospital was established by the Sisters of Charity Health Service (SCHS), which won a $48 million public tender to build, own and operate the hospital on behalf of the Queensland Government for 20 years.
It took its first patients on April 17, 2000.
But the sisters had to contribute $9.5 million in subsidies to the complex, which could not be sustained, SCHS chief executive officer Stuart Spring said.
‘Basically,’ he said, ‘the funds available from the State Government to support the level of activity it expected were inadequate.
‘As a result, the SCHS was sustaining losses and our only alternative was to hand the complex to Queensland Health.’
Burleigh Heads parish manager Ian Allen said it was believed pastoral care would continue but there were likely to be changes.
Queensland Health Minister Wendy Edmond’s office said the contract for the hospital was with the previous Borbidge Coalition Government and the Beattie Government had to work within its parameters.
