Fiona Stanley Hospital was forced to go on “baby bypass” last Friday when its new maternity unit was unable to cope with a surge in women in labour.
By yesterday, the hospital’s obstetric service, which opened only a week ago, had delivered 24 babies in six days.
A spokeswoman said that because of the unexpected high level of activity, expectant mothers who phoned the hospital last Friday night were advised not to go to the Murdoch hospital.
Instead, they were directed to three other maternity hospitals.
“This is standard operational practice for hospitals dealing with an unusually high number of obstetric patients and is not a reflection of the commissioning of the service at FSH,” the spokeswoman said.
“The bypass ceased on Saturday morning and normal activity is currently under way.”
Fiona Stanley Hospital has two maternity inpatient wards with 36 beds, eight labour rooms and 18 neonatal cots.
It replaced East Fremantle’s Kaleeya maternity hospital, which has closed.
Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Gannon said it was relatively routine for small public obstetric units to go on bypass from time to time.
“Sometimes they are overwhelmed and if you don’t have enough room or midwives, it’s the safest thing to do,” Dr Gannon said. “Having said that, it’s slightly embarrassing it’s happened so early on at our big flagship hospital, especially as the case load they’re dealing with is what was handled by little old Kaleeya Hospital.”
Dr Gannon said the bigger concern was future funding because any cuts would affect services that were already struggling to meet demand.