Calvary Public Hospital Bruce officially becomes North Canberra Hospital

The public hospital in Bruce was set to be taken over by the ACT government at midnight and will now be called North Canberra Hospital.

Staff at the hospital will be wearing unbranded uniforms and name badges at work from Monday but officials have said beyond that there will be very little changes for patients.

Calvary branding was removed from the hospital over the weekend, including the large cross on the front of the hospital.

Staff who worked an overnight shift at the hospital turned up to the Calvary Hospital and at 12.01am, their employer changed to Canberra Health Services.

The government's controversial acquisition happened only five weeks after Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith's bill to take control of the hospital passed the Legislative Assembly.

The legislation received backlash from the Catholic Church and the federal opposition who had called on the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter. However, Anthony Albanese backed the government's move.

North Canberra Hospital general manager Dr Elaine Pretorius has been working on the transition over the past few weeks. She was previously an executive at Calvary Public Hospital Bruce but made the switch.

"A transition plan doesn't stop on Monday, in fact, a transition plan actually starts on Monday," she said.

"The big Canberra Hospital and the North Canberra Hospital will still function as two separate entities but will sit under a single banner."

An overwhelming majority of the hospital's 1800 staff have made the switch to Canberra Health Services but health workers had previously expressed dismay at the speed of the government's acquisition and a lack of consultation.

The Australian Medical Association ACT branch said senior doctors had felt disrespected by the decision and called on the government to extend the time frame of the transition.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation claimed the government's acquisition breached the enterprise agreement as they were required to consult with staff before making any major decisions.

Dr Pretorius acknowledged there had been a "roller coaster of emotions" for staff at the hospital.

"Initially the announcement was made and that was a shock and there was the grief of losing what people had been committed to, some for many, many years," she said.

"One gets consumed by all the operational nitty gritty and now that it's here, I think there's a sense of excitement ... a little bit of trepidation mixed with a little bit of a sense of adventure of the new start."

Dr Pretorius said at times it was difficult to navigate the tensions between the government and Calvary, especially as Calvary was opposed to the acquisition and attempted to challenge the decision through the courts. She was the interface between the two during the transfer.

"Initially there was the tension between the transition team not yet being able to access Calvary and they had made a number of plans and when you're able to start accessing the site and there are different components of the service," she said.

"Our role as the executive has been to actually check those plans to make sure that the assumptions were correct and to work with the team to make those plans a reality."

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Dr Pretorius said she had also worked on reassuring staff.

"A big part of my role has been communication so reassuring our staff, having the conversations about who we are and who we will remain even though the banner under which we work will change," she said.

"The people we are are going to be the same, the values that drive us will be the same and our responsibility will continue to be to provide the best possible care for our community and for the people who trust us to look after them when they are unwell."

Canberra Health Services transition leader Cathie O'Neill said there would be a lot of background changes over the coming weeks but said this would not affect staff or patients.

"There'll be some things going on in the background but as far as staff and patients are concerned there will be very little change," she said.

"We'll just be getting in and making sure that we've tidied up all of the things that we haven't done by July 3, things like going through and making sure the policies and procedures refer to the correct name and the correct roles and those sorts of things."

Ms O'Neill said a main priority over the coming weeks was to work on repairing theatres in the hospital that were damaged in a fire last year.

"Our number one priority is to work with the local executive here to finalise the theatre refurbishments so we can get theatre cases back to their normal volume here at the campus," she said.

Calvary's national chief executive Martin Bowles and the ACT regional chief executive Ross Hawkins sent an open letter to staff ahead of the transfer, saying they were proud of the organisation's legacy in the capital.

"Calvary Public Hospital Bruce and Clare Holland House are much more than bricks and mortar. They are representative of the Calvary values," the letter said.

"It is our staff who have lived our mission of 'being for others' with their dedication to treat the patient in front of them."

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