Northern Beaches Hospital

The Northern Beaches Hospital is a district general hospital in Frenchs Forest, located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Northern Beaches Hospital
Northern Sydney Local Health District Healthscope
Main Entrance of Northern Beaches Hospital
Geography
Location	Frenchs Forest, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33.750751°S 151.232880°E / -33.750751; 151.232880
Organisation
Care system	Medicare (Australia) Private
Funding	Public For-profit
Type	District General
Network	NSW Health Healthscope
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	488
Helipads
Helipad	(ICAO: YXNL)
Number Length Surface ft m 1 concrete
History
Opened	30 October 2018
Links
Website	www.northernbeacheshospital.com.au

History

In May 2013, the State Government announced the Northern Beaches Hospital would be built in Frenchs Forest. Upon its completion it became the primary Hospital for the Northern Beaches, with Manly Hospital to close and Mona Vale Hospital to be downgraded.^[1] It is operated by Healthscope.^[2] In December 2014, Leighton Contractors were selected to build the hospital.^[3] The hospital opened on 30 October 2018.

As part of the project, a series of road enhancements were made to the adjoining Forest Way, Wakehurst Parkway and Warringah Road by a Ferrovial/York Civil joint venture.^[4] Upgrades were completed in mid-2020.

The hospital is both a private and public hospital, and it is expected that 40% of beds will be reserved for private patients.^[5]

Northern Beaches Hospital played an integral role in the COVID-19 response in NSW by operating a 7-day/week COVID-19 testing clinic, busy emergency department, and admitted unwell patients into the intensive care unit. In early 2022, over 60 ward beds were dedicated to COVID-19 patients.^{[citation needed]} The hospital was one of the first in Sydney to allow visitors to once again visit patients.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2024, a two-year-old boy died at the hospital after he "was left in an emergency department chair for 2½ hours despite showing clear signs of a life-threatening condition."^[6]

In February 2025, after the parents of the boy met New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, it was reported that "the government was also reviewing its options regarding the contract with Healthscope to run Northern Beaches Hospital until 2038 under a controversial public-private partnership." It was also reported that Minns was "open to legislation ruling out any future private-public hospital arrangements in New South Wales."^[7]

In March 2025, NSW Premier Minns announced that the Government would not rule out buying back Northern Beaches Hospital from its private owners, "after announcing a ban on any future public-private partnerships at acute hospitals" as a consequence of the death of the two year old boy in 2024.^[8]

In April 2025 an audit conducted by the NSW Government found numerous failings at the hospital including that the hospital was not effectively delivering outcomes and that safety and quality issues remained.^[9]