An under-fire hospital plagued by months of scandal and financial turmoil will finally enter public hands.

The Northern Beaches Hospital completed its transition to the public health system on Wednesday, ending eight years of private ownership under Australia’s second-biggest private hospital operator, Healthscope.

The change began after the death of two-year-old Joe Massa, who spent three hours waiting in the northern Sydney hospital’s emergency department before he died.

Community outrage and advocacy led by his parents Elouise and Danny Massa prompted the NSW government to pass “Joe’s Law”, banning future private-public hospital partnerships and paving the way for the facility to be brought into public hands.

“The Minns government has, in just over 12 months, reversed one of the worst privatisation failures our state has ever seen,” NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said.

“This is a historic day for the people of the Northern Beaches and for the NSW public health system.”

More than 1800 Northern Beaches Hospital staff have now joined NSW Health, and the state’s first high-volume planned surgery centre will soon open at the facility.

Locals will have access to private services until the end of June 2027, as work continues to finalise a long-term plan for these resources.

An April 2025 report into the hospital found the public-private partnership created tension between health care and profits, and accused management of failing to take sufficient action to stop clinical safety risks.

Healthscope runs 37 hospitals across the nation and was initially contracted to run the Northern Beaches institution until 2038.

It went to the government in 2023 to try to terminate the $2 billion contract, citing insufficient funding, poor health network integration and other reasons.

Although the NSW government announced it would pay $190 million to Healthscope for the transfer deal, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey previously stressed there would be no windfall gains for the provider or its investors at the expense of taxpayers.

Healthscope went into receivership in May 2025 over financial debts totalling about $1.6 billion.

-AAP