Today was the day we hoped to see the Cohealth report. Instead, the board chair has quit, and rumours that the report may never surface have left clients feeling even more forgotten.
Today, 1 May was supposed to be an important day at Cohealth. It was the day Cohealth patients were reportedly told that they could expect to see the report into GP services at the embattled community health service.
It was also meant to be CEO Nicole Bartholomeusz’s last day.
Neither has come to pass.
Instead, late yesterday we received word that Kate MacRae, who took over as board chair in January this year, is stepping down.
Ms MacRae cited personal commitments, “given the level of sustained community and stakeholder engagement required, and the significant time commitment this places on the role”, the Cohealth statement said.
Taking her place as chair will be Sam Sondhi, a current director of the board. Mr Sondhi is CEO of Futurity Investment Group and previously served as CEO of Outlook Australia, one of Australia’s largest social enterprises in disability employment.
“His appointment provides continuity of leadership and oversight at an important time for the organisation,” the Cohealth statement said.
The statement also advised that the board has asked Ms Bartholomeusz to remain in the CEO role until 31 July 2026.
The board highlighted that recruitment for the position was underway, although The Medical Republic hasn’t yet seen any job advertisements for the role.
What we did find was an advert for the Executive Lead, a role that we were told had been vacant since March. Its remit is to steward the 10-year strategy into measurable impact alongside the CEO and executive team.
Will we ever get to see the Cohealth review?
TMR hears things are intensifying at the leadership level at Cohealth. That may be because they reportedly got their hands on the independent GP review just this week.
“The Board has this week received the Independent Review report and will carefully review its contents,” a Cohealth spokesperson told TMR today.
“The Board and CE are in active conversations with government and will provide another update to our staff and clients about what the next steps are.
“It remains front of mind for both the CE and the Board to secure the right solution for the communities who rely on our GP services,” they said.
However, the fact remains that the report may never see the light of day.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing told TMR:
“The findings of the review will be considered in line with the review’s Terms of Reference. No decision has yet been made regarding public release of the final report.”
According to the terms of reference:
“The review will deliver a final report by 28 February 2026, to be held in confidence by departments, in addition to a summary report, which on agreement of all parties, may be subject to public release.”
This has left some patients like ‘Alice’ reeling.
“They’re just as sneaky and underhanded as Cohealth,” she said of the government.
“People like me have been living in hope that something meaningful would come out of this.
“It was stacked against us from the beginning, and leaves some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people in Melbourne pushed under the carpet and forgotten about even more than they are already.
“It is an absolute joke – they should all be ashamed of themselves.”
Alice said the terms of reference were effectively a “get out of jail free card” for Cohealth.
“It means they have the choice to do anything they want to – they can take notice of the review, just release the favourable bits or nothing at all,” she said.
“We will never know. There is zero transparency.”
She also questioned Cohealth’s claim it only received the report this week.
“It’s a joke, we can’t believe anything they say,” she said. “This has been such a huge waste of time and taxpayer money. A completely careless exercise.
“The review was government-funded. It should be up to the government to release it publicly and they should do so immediately in the interests of transparency. Cohealth patients and staff have been living in limbo for long enough.
“This was the government’s chance to intervene in a meaningful way to take care of this and they have messed up completely,” she said.
Also critical was the Save our Community Health Centres group.
It is calling on federal health minister Mark Butler to remove the board and senior management and appoint an administrator to form a new board and a new senior management team.
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Former board member and Save our Community Health Centres advocate Dr Stephen Alomes said with only two months left of funding, there was an urgent need to provide security for the Kensington, Fitzroy and Collingwood clinics.
“We believe that Cohealth can’t handle the report because it may be a damning indictment of their continuing failures in governance both over time and significantly during the six months since the review commenced.
“When the management and the board of a public health organisation will not fully co-operate with the government and the community on the release of a report into its performance then it should be replaced,” he told TMR.
For its part, Cohealth said it remained “deeply committed to finding a solution for clients who rely on GP-led services in Collingwood, Fitzroy, and Kensington”.
“Cohealth has always had a strong commitment to engaging with sector partners, government, and the communities we serve. In December and January, we engaged with the communities and clients in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington to hear their views, make sure we could answer questions, and feed back their considerations to the Independent Review.
“The CE and Board Chair have met with members of community to hear and understand their views and to provide an update on the progress of the Review.
“We will continue our engagement in coming months.”
