ASMOF ACT concerned at CHS' capacity to handle acquisition

But the Australian Medical Association ACT's branch said the move could help to improve governance in the territory's health system.

Plans to acquire the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce were announced by the ACT government on Wednesday.

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith put forward the bill on Thursday morning, which will allow the government to acquire the hospital by July 3.

The acquisition is being done so work can begin on a new $1 billion hospital for Canberra's booming north.

Calvary has slammed the move, saying it was "unexpected and unilateral".

Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation ACT branch executive officer Steve Ross said he had concerns about the management of Canberra Health Services given the cultural issues being faced at Canberra Hospital.

"Given the ongoing workforce shortages, and ongoing industrial disputes with CHS regarding working conditions, health, safety and wellbeing, ASMOF ACT are concerned about the capacity of CHS health administrators and executives to manage such fundamental reforms," he said.

Mr Ross said the union was not substantially consulted on the acquisition.

"ASMOF ACT's immediate concern is for the healthcare implications for Canberrans accessing Calvary public hospital care, and, also, the health, safety and welfare of our Calvary members," he said.

"There are a number of very complex issues to be resolved in the foreshadowed process, the healthcare delivery, workforce and safety ramifications of which remain to be determined."

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But AMA ACT branch president Walter Abhayaratna said having a single provider across the territory's public hospitals was an "attractive component".

"We think that will allow a good governance structure that is very much like the rest of the country in terms of a single provider having several sites," he said.

"So we think this is a really good step and hopefully there'll be more steps to try and normalise the governance structure for the public hospital and public sector health services."

However, Professor Abhayaratna said AMA had received feedback from people concerned about the acquisition process.

"We understand this is something that's come very much out of the blue... we're very keen to know that, in a jurisdiction where we are very short of health services staff, we don't lose any staff as a consequence of this move," he said.

Professor Abhayaratna said he did not expect there will be any changes in the ways people were working but if there were changes this would not be supported.

"In the short- to medium-term I don't expect the experiences to be different and we will be ensuring that their job descriptions, their roles and what they do day-to-day shouldn't change," he said.

There are 1800 staff working at the Bruce public hospital. The government has said staff would retain their jobs and roles. There is a very small portion of staff who won't be able to work at the new hospital as they have previously been dismissed from the ACT public service.

The Community and Public Sector Union said the move was in line with the ACT government's commitment to insourcing.

"We know that public services and public assets are best delivered by public servants and kept in public hands," CPSU ACT acting regional secretary Brenton Higgins said.

"This is an extraordinary win for public health services and the Canberrans who will be able to access it."

CFMEU ACT secretary Zach Smith said the union welcomed the move.

"I know there will be those who whine about the compulsory acquisition process, but a good territory government needs to think about the community first and stakeholder sensibilities second," he said.

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