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The ACT Government has agreed in-principle to sell the hospice to Little Company of Mary Health Care (LCMHC) for $9 million.

The sale is part of a proposed deal in which the Government plans to buy Calvary Public Hospital from LCMHC for $77 million.

Nurses at the hospice were due to meet with management yesterday to discuss their concerns, but LCMHC cancelled at short notice.

ACT Nursing Federation secretary Jenny Miragaya says staff are worried about how the sale will impact on their status as public sector employees.

"Obviously the staff at Clare Holland House are in fact public sector employees, so they're ACT Government employees," she said.

"Initially I think the understanding was that they would be able to maintain their public sector status," she said.

"It would now appear that if the sale of the hospice to Little Company of Mary Health Care goes ahead, that they may in fact be sold like chess pieces in a transmission of business."

Ms Miragaya says there would be big implications for staff if the private company takes over their employment.

"At the moment the staff are very adamant that they wish to remain public sector employees," she said.

"So that has implications for ACT Health as to where are they going to redeploy these staff within ACT Health?

"Are there positions available for these highly skilled palliative care providers within ACT Health?

"And then if they are no longer working at Clare Holland House, how is the Little Company of Mary to provide publicly funded palliative care services to the ACT residents?"

LCMHC already runs Clare Holland House on behalf of the Government.

But Ms Miragaya says staff are concerned about the how the sale will affect the provision of palliative care services in the Territory.

"They have significant concerns about a publicly funded, purpose built facility being sold to a private company and then also the provision of secular

"It will have a significant Catholic ethos. And not that there is anything wrong with a Catholic ethos or Christian deliver of palliative care services, but the clientele ... may not require or not appreciate that emphasis of their care deliver.

"So it's a question of choice also for the clientele and the relatives of those clients."

The nurses met with ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher last week.

Ms Miragaya says the nurses want answers and hope LCMHC will meet with them soon.

As reported by the ABC