“Further investigations are required to firstly confirm if the consideration for the transaction was at
arm’s length, and if so, the artwork into the void can be recovered and realised for the benefit of
creditors.”
The report states there was a loan arrangement between the director and the company, dating back “nearly to the commencement of the hospital”, with $1.4 million outstanding.
The hospital appears to have operated on thin margins historically, the report states, “experiencing increasing strain over the [past] five years” due to rising operating costs and the impacts of COVID.
By 2024, the hospital’s net operating losses amounted to $4.7 million.
“Based on management discussions and our analysis, these reductions were primarily attributed to the decline in patient admissions to inpatient care,” the report says.
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“In the past year, following the deterioration in the company’s financial performance, the company borrowed further funds from Westpac to finance the hospital’s operations and accumulated taxation liabilities for unpaid PAYG and payroll tax.”
The hospital’s chief executive, Christine Gee, denied rumours it was at risk of closing in September last year.
However, the administrators’ report reveals the company tried to find a buyer in mid-2024.
Despite this, patients and their treating psychiatrists were given just two weeks’ notice that the hospital would close, leaving doctors scrambling to find available beds at the few other private psychiatric facilities in Brisbane.
The report reveals administrators received four expressions of interest to buy the beleaguered hospital, but all were below market value. Two of those offers were for the Toowong property only.
“Unfortunately, for the reasons outlined above, the expressions of interest received were not commercially better than the closure and piecemeal sale of the company’s assets,” the report states.
Toowong Private Hospital provided a unique model of holistic care involving psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.Credit: Toowong Private Hospital
Meanwhile, the Queensland government has ruled out acquiring the hospital to reopen its doors, with a spokesman for Health Minister Tim Nicholls saying the facility was located too far from other public hospitals and needed a major refurbishment.
“Queensland Health has determined that the Toowong Private Hospital would not meet public health needs,” the spokesman said on Wednesday.
The state opposition joined 11th-hour calls for the Crisafulli government to swoop in and save the hospital, pointing to the previous Labor government’s acquisition of Gladstone Mater Hospital in 2020.
But the health minister’s spokesman said the purchase of Gladstone Mater was “not directly comparable”.
“While [Gladstone Mater] was a private facility, it was co-located with the public hospital and was capable of staffing and operational integration,” he said.
“[Toowong Private] would need a major refurbishment to meet contemporary standards in order to cater for the cohort of patients who access public mental health services, and there would be significant ongoing costs associated with operating a new public facility isolated from other public facilities.”
Toowong Private Hospital treated 3000 patients annually, including Australian Defence Force personnel, veterans and emergency services workers suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. It also ran outpatient support programs.
Dr Astha Tomar, president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, said Queensland was short about 300 to 350 mental health beds.
“Now we’ve lost another 58,” she said.
Tomarcalled on the Queensland government to put pressure on the federal government and health insurers to ensure there would be beds for people at their most vulnerable.
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