Loading Mr Hazzard said he had only learned of Ms Latta’s resignation on Wednesday morning - two days after joining her at the hospital's ribbon-cutting ceremony. But Ms Latta says she had intended to resign before the hospital's serious problems were exposed. In a letter to staff, Ms Latta said she had always believed that she should hand over the reins to a new leader once the hospital became operational. "The time has come for this to happen, so I made the decision to resign from my role and from Healthscope," Ms Latta wrote. Healthscope is Australia's second-biggest private hospital operator.

"I have debated the timing and it’s unfortunate that whilst I submitted my resignation prior to the recent events, I’ve decided the time is now. "The running of an enterprise of this size and complexity takes a huge amount of energy, I’ve run my leg of the race and it’s time to pass the baton," she said. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard responds to questions about issues at the new Northern Beaches hospital. Credit:Nick Moir Healthscope executives are scheduling emergency meetings with the hospital's anaesthetists and other specialities to neutralise dissent ahead of the crisis meeting tonight. Doctors had planned to hold a Medical Staff Council meeting at the Forestville RSL on Wednesday night, but as a result of the hospital's "change in direction", they will meet on hospital grounds, Australian Medical Association NSW president Kean-Seng Lim said.

The Healthscope's new chief medical officer Dr Victoria Atkinson is expected to attend the meeting, where the hospital's senior doctors will discuss "issues regarding patient safety" and staffing, according to the meeting agenda. Stephen Gameren - the current State Manager of Healthscope NSW - has been appointed acting chief executive. Ms Latta said will remain for a transition period of four weeks. Mr Hazzard said Ms Latta told him that she was feeling "quite tired" and she had been intending to resign at some appropriate time. Inside the Northern Beaches Hospital. Credit:Brook Mitchell "She now considered this an appropriate point," Mr Hazzard said.

"I want to thank Deb Latta," Mr Hazzard said. "She actually has done an amazing job bringing together both the design and the building of Northern Beaches Hospital." Loading The health minister repeated his characterisation of the problems as "teething issues". "The bottom line here is we have a fantastic hospital," he said, adding one specialist had described it as "Disneyland for doctors". "The technology is amazing, the staff are incredible, but there are some teething problems, and I'm sure the new management will work through those with us very constructively."

“This morning there was an abdominal aortic aneurysm that occurred Friday night and the patient was an hour away from death . . because of the expertise they were able to save that patient’s life," Mr Hazzard said. On Monday Mr Hazzard said he had given Healthscope a three-week deadline to fix the problems. "There [are] still some issues around junior doctor staffing" but the Healthscope had already addressed supply shortage issues. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the NBH's transition "still had a little way to go".

"But within the month we expect the hospital to be up and running as you'd expect," Ms Berejiklian said. NSW opposition leader Michael Daley called the events a "debacle" and questioned why Healthscope had to appoint an interim CEO if Ms Latta’s departure had been planned. Loading "This is not something that inspires confidence in the health system," Mr Daley said. Labor health spokesperson Walt Secord said the public-private hospital was the "Americanisation of the health system" that put "profits before patients".