A recommendation from the Coordinator-General on Calvary’s proposal for a private hospital co-located with the Launceston General Hospital is not expected until after the election.
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The unsolicited bid was submitted in December, with a recommendation initially expected within six to eight weeks.
However, with the state government now in caretaker mode, an Office of the Coordinator-General spokesman said the recommendation would not be made until Cabinet sat again, after the new government was formed.
The spokesman said an assessment panel was established and was considering the proposal.
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Earlier this month, Labor announced its own plan to facilitate a health precinct and co-located private hospital, if elected to government in March.
Leader Rebecca White said a Labor majority government would call for expressions of interest from private hospital providers for the co-located hospital, situated on the corner of Charles and Howick streets.
She said on Tuesday the Liberals had “no plan for critical health and infrastructure to improve health services for Northern Tasmanians”.
“The Liberals have prioritised spending $340 million on prisons – a majority Labor government’s first priority is health and fixing the health crisis and that’s why today we have committed $560 million across the next six years to recruit an additional 500 health professionals into our health and hospital system.”
Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the Liberals were “focusing on investing in the public hospital”.
“Because of the current process, I’m not able to and I won’t be able to speculate on the future, but I can assure that Calvary’s proposal, which has been put forward in good faith, is being assessed, and the alternative under Labor is that Calvary’s proposal will be squashed,” he said.
“I’m not going to speculate on potential outcomes from the current bid, other than to say the government is assessing. The Coordinator-General is currently assessing the proposal from Calvary and it will be given every opportunity.”
