NSW Upper House committee opens inquiry into Calvary Mater Hospital maintenance and safety concerns

11 February 2026

newy.com.au – A NSW Parliament Upper House health committee has established an inquiry into management, maintenance and operational issues at Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle, with submissions to close on 10 March 2026.

The probe follows a series of reported contamination and maintenance concerns at the Waratah hospital, including closures linked to mould and a separate incident involving maggots.

Committee chair Dr Amanda Cohn MLC said “critical safety and maintenance issues” were reported by staff “through the proper channels as early as 2017”, and said the recent accounts of “maggots and mould” were “shocking”.

“It was over a week from the maggots being reported to that ward being closed and patients being moved,” Cohn said, adding that patients on affected wards were “vulnerable people with compromised immune systems”.

Cohn said the inquiry would focus on “systemic issues in this hospital” and not “pore through isolated incidents”, arguing that where problems occur “it is never because cleaners and other staff are not hard working or diligent; it is always at the higher level of infrastructure management”.

The committee’s terms of reference include hospital infrastructure and maintenance, infection control, and the “causes and management of incidents involving mould, water damage, pest infestations and any resulting closures of wards, beds or clinical spaces”.

It will also consider patient safety and service impacts, staff concerns and workplace safety, governance and accountability, and the effectiveness of the public private partnership model at the hospital, including how performance compares with other healthcare PPPs in NSW.

NSW Health has previously described Calvary Mater Newcastle as a public hospital operated by Calvary Health Care under a service agreement with Hunter New England Local Health District, with the Health Administration Corporation entering a PPP with Novacare in 2005 to build and manage the campus and provide facilities management services such as cleaning, catering and building maintenance.

The inquiry is being conducted by Portfolio Committee No. 2 – Health, chaired by Cohn with Liberal MLC Susan Carter as deputy chair, and includes Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, Labor MLCs Mark Buttigieg, Greg Donnelly and Emily Suvaal, and Nationals MLC Sarah Mitchell.

The committee has invited submissions from people with direct experience of the hospital, including staff and patients, with hearing dates yet to be announced on the committee’s inquiry page.