The endings are rarely happy when a hospital finds itself at the heart of a political fight.

But that is the fate of Northern Beaches Hospital. When it opened in 2018, it was meant to be a new vision of how the private sector’s innovation and efficiency could be harnessed to provide public hospital care.

Today, the private operator Healthscope is crippled by debt and the Sydney hospital itself is subject to a parliamentary inquiry, sparked in part by the death of two-year-old Joe Massa last year, who was allegedly wrongly triaged after presenting to ED.

Below is AusDoc interview’s with Professor Keith Burgess, head of respiratory and chair of the hospital’s medical staff council.