The national competition regulator has cleared the way for Calvary to buy Hobart Private Hospital, ending months of uncertainty over the future of the private facility.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ruled on August 27 that the acquisition could go ahead.
Calvary, a Catholic not-for-profit, already operates four private hospitals in Tasmania.
The deal will make it the only major private hospital operator offering overnight services in Hobart.
Hobart Private went up for sale after Healthscope’s parent company collapsed into voluntary administration in May 2025.
The ACCC found the deal was unlikely to substantially lessen competition, largely because of what could happen if it fell through.
“In the absence of a commercially realistic alternative purchaser and in the context of Healthscope’s voluntary administration there is a real prospect that Hobart Private would cease operating as a private hospital in the future without the acquisition,” the ACCC said.
The regulator found competition would likely be reduced whether or not the sale went ahead.
But Calvary’s Catholic ethos means some services currently offered at Hobart Private will not continue under its ownership.
“The services that would likely not be provided by Calvary at Hobart Private if the acquisition proceeds include certain IVF and other assisted reproductive services, voluntary assisted dying, elective terminations of pregnancy and gender reassignment procedures,” the ACCC said.
The regulator said doctors and industry bodies had raised concerns about losing those services.
However, it found they would likely disappear from Hobart Private even if the Calvary deal did not proceed.
Department of Health secretary Dale Webster told ABC Radio the acquisition was an “overwhelmingly positive” outcome for the state.
“Without Calvary taking over Hobart Private, we were faced with losing 140 private beds, five theatres, an endoscopy suite and a cath lab,” he said.
Webster said the department had been working to shift affected services elsewhere ahead of the handover in November.
“…. By the time that Calvary take it over … we will have announced all of the alternatives that are currently in Hobart Private that need to go somewhere else,” he said.
IVF services are already moving to Nexus, which operates Hobart Day Surgery, after the company announced the change in April.
Webster said all services would continue at Hobart Private until Calvary took over.
He said arrangements for gender-affirming care were less settled, with sending patients interstate considered a “last resort”.
“… We want to make sure that we’ve exhausted the alternatives on island first and we think we are working towards that,” he said.
Equality Tasmania spokesperson Rodney Croome told ABC Radio this travel will come “at great expense to [patients] and to the state government as well.”
“It really seems to me that this go-ahead from the ACCC doesn’t take into account the health needs of women in Tasmania or LGBTIQA+ people.”
Health Minister Bridget Archer said the state government “understand the concerns” raised about the affected services.
“We have been clear that we will ensure there is no service gap for vulnerable Tasmanians, with some services already resolved – such as IVF services – and we continue to work through details to resolve others,” she said.
