One of the country's top project managers has cast doubt on whether the takeover of Calvary Public Hospital Bruce could be completed quickly.
The ACT government has said it will be in full ownership and control of Calvary Public Hospital Bruce by July 3, but experts in project management have cast doubt on this timeframe.
Kieron Hewitt, managing director of Initial Capital Projects, said the process could be started in that time - but not completed.
It would take months to assemble a team and even longer to complete the takeover, he said.
"To guarantee current operations, the hospital's project team would need a six- to 12-month period to hand over that asset," he said.
Consultants, for example, could only be hired after a formal government tendering process.
"They simply couldn't meet their procurement requirements quickly enough to engage the consultants in time to do the work required to effectively handover the asset," said the managing director of the company which has overseen projects at Adelaide Airport, the MCG, as well as in the ACT, including for the territory government.
Calvary hospital says it has 1800 people working there.
"That would require 1800 communications and consultations before July," Mr Hewitt said.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith agreed "the timeline is short", but said it was still doable.
"The ACT government would not have decided on this timeline if we believed it was not deliverable while maintaining patient safety and service delivery," she said.
It is not a new capital project which would demand the longer process, she argued.
Medical records are already shared by the Catholic hospital and the ACT government's Canberra Hospital.
"This transition is not a capital development project," the minister said.
"It is a process of transitioning clinical services from one organisation to another, retaining the same staff, models of care and suppliers wherever possible.
"Employees are already employed under the same enterprise agreement conditions in Calvary Public Hospital and CHS, so there will be no need for individual negotiations on conditions for the vast majority of staff."
But the doubts over the proposed seven-week timeframe come as the ACT government appeals to Calvary's employees, volunteers, contractors and suppliers to get in touch "to ensure there is no disruption to your pay".
On its website, it has asked them to get in touch as soon as possible "to start the transition of your employment from Calvary to Canberra Health Services". There are forms to fill in there. It is not clear how many have chosen to do so.
The health minister said individual negotiation would not be needed, saying: "It is a process of transitioning clinical services from one organisation to another, retaining the same staff, models of care and suppliers wherever possible.
"Employees are already employed under the same enterprise agreement conditions in Calvary Public Hospital and CHS, so there will be no need for individual negotiations on conditions for the vast majority of staff."
"The ACT government has established a transition team to coordinate and support the transition of employees and services."
But there are still lots of details to get right, said Mr Hewitt, who was part of the project management team when ACT Health moved its offices to Woden six years ago.
"There would definitely need to be an HR component because contracts would need to be redone," he said.
Calvary has said its name could not continue to be used under the new ownership, so the hospital would need to be renamed on signs, forms and documents.
"You've got to rebrand the whole hospital," Mr Hewitt said.
The legal status of the hospital would have to change. It is currently a not-for-profit private organisation run by a Catholic charity but would become, in effect, a nationalised enterprise.
There might also be a legal situation over existing contracts with outsiders, say, to do construction work on the hospital site. Would the ACT government simply take over those contracts and liabilities? Would the contractors accept the change?
Meanwhile, the campaign against the takeover continues to ramp up. There had been 3000 signatories to the "Save Calvary" petition by noon on Sunday, the campaign organiser said.
"The response has been huge," Father Tony Percy said.
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