North Canberra Hospital, formerly the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce, is an Australian public hospital located in Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, serving the northern suburbs of Canberra. It is classified as a secondary care facility. The hospital is operated by Canberra Health Services, the health service of the ACT Government. It was established as the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce in 1979 and was operated by a division of the Little Company of Mary Health Care (LCMHC), Calvary Health Care ACT, on behalf of the ACT Government. In 2023, the ACT Government compulsorily acquired the hospital with a view to building a new hospital on the site. It is a teaching hospital affiliated with the Australian Catholic University, the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. The Calvary Private Hospital and Hyson Green Mental Health Clinic are co-located on the site and share many facilities with the public hospital.
History
An agreement between the Commonwealth Government and Corporation of the Little Company of Mary was reached on 22 October 1971 to construct and operate a public hospital providing up to 300 beds to service the Inner North and Belconnen districts in Canberra, to be located on a site in the new suburb of Bruce. The new hospital commenced operations in May 1979, with the ownership and operation of the hospital remaining largely unchanged following the transition to self-government of the territory in 1988.
In 2007/2008 the hospital conducted a pilot refugee mentoring program. This community program is designed to provide refugees to Australia with work experience and career information and promotes cross cultural understanding. The program was launched in June 2008 and is funded through LCMHC's national community benefit program.
In 2009, amid concerns regarding the ACT hospital system reaching capacity, the territory government investigated acquiring the hospital to bring it under full government ownership and control. The move was prompted by government concerns about control of its assets should it commit to investing in upgrading the existing hospital. However, following public consultation and extensive negotiations with LCMHC in 2010, the proposal failed to eventuate and the existing operational agreements were maintained. The government projects medium-term demand for another 400 hospital beds across Canberra and are now pursuing options to meet this, including the construction of a new public hospital to be built in the northern suburbs, with some services separated and others shared with Calvary.
In May 2014, the ACT Government announced $19 million funding for the construction of a 700 space multi-story car park to relieve demand for parking at the hospital, as well as upgrading the hospital's electrical sub-station to allow for expansion of clinical services offered on the campus.
Calvary Hospital was among the earliest institutions in Australia to undertake sentinel lymph node biopsy procedures under the guidance of prominent local breast cancer surgeon John Buckingham.
Reproductive healthcare controversy and government acquisition
Since initial discussions by the ACT Government regarding a take over the hospital in 2009, public and political debate has centred on the hospital's policies regarding many aspects of reproductive medicine. As early as 2007, a dispute between the Canberra Fertility Centre and LCMHC received national media coverage over restrictions placed on In vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures at Calvary Public Hospital and the Calvary John James Private Hospital. During 2019, complaints to the ACT Human Rights Commission alleged the hospital was limiting the information and advice it provided to women on both abortion as well as options for contraception. As the public hospital for many of Canberra's northern districts, the commission was concerned that the hospital's guidance by Catholic doctrines on these issues was unfairly disadvantaging those on lower incomes who could not afford or easily travel to alternative health services.