The Hobart Clinic will likely remain open after the Tasmanian government threw the struggling private mental health facility a $2 million lifeline, with a new board now racing to make it viable.
Three directors were appointed on Tuesday to steer the clinic through a make-or-break six-month period, during which it must prove it can survive without ongoing taxpayer support.
Apex Advisory Managing Director Tim Booker, who will chair the board alongside Dr Robert Walters and Ben Uprichard, said the immediate priority was ensuring the facility met safety and compliance standards before reopening to patients.
“Our focus for the next six months is to develop a sustainable clinical model, a sustainable financial model and a sustainable infrastructure plan to allow the clinic to continue serving the community,” Booker said.
The clinic is not currently admitting patients while the new board works through compliance issues.
The emergency funding, announced by Health Minister Bridget Archer last week after pressure from unions and patients, came with strict conditions and a firm deadline.
Archer at the time warned the one-off grant was the clinic’s last chance, saying no further government funding would be available after the transition period.
The intervention averted what would have been a significant blow to Tasmania’s private mental health sector and the only facility of its kind in the state’s south.
Booker thanked staff who had weathered “a time of great uncertainty” and stakeholders whose support had been “vital to secure a way forward for this important facility”.
“We will continue to engage closely with them as we head towards reopening the facility,” he said.
Health Minister Bridget Archer on Tuesday urged the new board to formally accept the government’s $2 million transitional funding offer.
“We are focussed on the health and wellbeing of Tasmanians and that’s why we acted swiftly and diligently upon receiving a proposal from the board,” she said.
“We continue to work with the board to ensure patients and staff have certainty.”
