Services for expectant mothers in need of extra care are under the greatest pressure at Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, director general of ACT Health Dr Peggy Brown says.
Pregnant women from the northside would be forced to give birth at Calvary Hospital in Bruce, and southsiders at the Centenary Hospital in Woden, if a plan being considered by ACT Health is adopted to cope with growing demand at the “attractive” newer hospital.
Overall, the number of births in the public sector had increased, Dr Brown said, but Calvary has had only a small increase while Centenary’s has been substantial.
“Last financial year there was 3249 births at Centenary hospital and that compares to 2769 in 2010,” she told the ABC.
The Centenary hospital has two sections for women to give birth in, the birthing suite where medical intervention can be provided with 24-hour specialist support, and the birthing centre where women wanting a “low- intervention” birth can access the midwifery care program in a “less medicalised” environment, the department’s website says.
Dr Brown said the pressure was “largely on the birthing suite rather than the birthing centre”.
“We would not be looking in this proposal to in any way reduce access to the continuity of midwifery care at Centenary Hospital for Women and Children.
“We need to look and see we can have a safe and sustainable service.”
She said other jurisdictions had policies requiring women to birth at their local hospital, accessing the tertiary facility only for complex care.
“Low-risk women should birth at their local or regional hospital … unless there is a reason for you to receive care at the tertiary hospital.”
As well as the proposal to force women to give birth at the hospital nearest to them, she said publicly funded home births were also being considered – a possibility first flagged by former chief minister Katy Gallagher in November.
Dr Brown said decisions would not be made until the end of March at the earliest, after public consultation.
She blamed the significant increase in the number of women giving birth at the Centenary hospital on increased numbers of women abandoning the private system for the public system.
“We’ve also seen changes in the number of people coming from NSW, we believe that’s because NSW have made some decisions about what women they will allow to birth in their facilities,” she said.
Dr Brown said it was also possible expectant mothers were unaware the continuity of midwifery care program was available at both hospitals.
“We do have a perfectly good maternity service at Calvary Hospital.
“It’s a long-standing service that provides an excellent standard of care so we really need to have a service across Canberra that incorporates both of our hospitals and both services available.”