Overview
- Mater announced the change on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, saying pathology services at its Brisbane and Springfield hospitals will be transferred to Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology and Pathology Queensland.
- The group confirmed about 400 full-time, part-time and casual staff will be affected, with more than 100 positions ending before Christmas and the remainder phased out over the next 12 to 18 months.
- Mater says patient care will not be disrupted during the transition and that the outsourced model will allow it to direct more resources to frontline clinical services.
- Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls expressed sympathy for affected workers, called for a federal review of Medicare rebate arrangements and said Pathology Queensland may absorb some services or staff where possible.
- The move follows a broader trend of private hospitals using specialist external pathology providers because modern pathology needs greater scale, technology and investment, and it could reshape local staffing and service arrangements as redeployment and funding outcomes play out.