9-day hospital shutdown forces nurses to burn annual leave, union fights for pay

When a 170-bed hospital shuts down for critical fire system upgrades, the question of who bears the cost becomes a flashpoint. For nurses at Mount Private Hospital, the answer from their employer was clear: they must use their own annual leave or go unpaid — a move that has landed two disputes at the Fair Work Commission and raised serious questions about workforce entitlements during corporate transitions.

A planned nine-day shutdown of Perth's Mount Private Hospital, a 170-bed facility critical for specialist surgeries including cardiac care, has sparked a bitter dispute between management and nurses over pay and entitlements. The shutdown, scheduled from July 6 to July 13, 2026, is to upgrade the hospital's fire system—a critical infrastructure project that requires crane lifts and a complete evacuation of the site. But it arrives amid a delicate transition: the hospital's operator, Healthscope, entered receivership more than 12 months ago, and only in May 2026 did WA Labor broker a takeover by Bethesda Health Care, promising to offer jobs to existing staff. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation WA (ANMF WA) has now lodged two disputes with the Fair Work Commission after Healthscope informed employees they would not be paid during the shutdown, instead pushing staff to take annual leave or unpaid leave. Union state secretary Romina Raschilla argues that hospitals operate 24/7, 365 days a year, and that such a shutdown should not come at the cost of nurses' entitlements.

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But it arrives amid a delicate transition: the hospital's operator, Healthscope, entered receivership more than 12 months ago, and only in May 2026 did WA Labor broker a takeover by Bethesda Health Care, promising to offer jobs to existing staff.

The situation highlights the vulnerability of healthcare workers during corporate transitions. While Bethesda's takeover offers long-term stability, the immediate announcement of an unpaid closure has frayed trust. For a workforce already stretched by WA's strained health system, the loss of wages—or forced erosion of leave balances—could exacerbate burnout and fuel attrition at a time when continuity of care is paramount. The hospital's role in providing cardiac surgery and specialist procedures means any disruption has knock-on effects across the public system, which relies on private capacity to manage elective waitlists.

From an industrial relations perspective, the Fair Work Commission disputes test the boundaries of employer obligations during planned operational shutdowns. Healthscope's stance that the shutdown is necessary for critical infrastructure and that no work is available on site may have legal merit, but the union's argument—that a hospital is a continuous operation and staff should be paid for their ordinary hours regardless—could set a precedent for the sector. The outcome will be closely watched by private hospital operators and nursing staff nationally, especially as many facilities face similar infrastructure upgrades and corporate restructurings.