Dr John Ballard, who led the review into deaths at the Bacchus Marsh and Melton hospital, said several women have cancelled appointments to give birth there
Victorian health minister Jill Hennessy and Dr John Ballard addressing the revelations of the death of babies at a Victorian hospital. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP
Women have cancelled plans to give birth at the Bacchus Marsh and Melton hospital in Victoria after an independent investigation found the deaths of seven babies between 2013 and 2014 could have been avoided.
According to the findings from the investigation released earlier this month, Djerriwarrh health services failed to update its practices around obstetric and midwifery care, leading to a series of catastrophic clinical and governance failures which may have contributed to the deaths.
On Monday, Victoria’s health minister, Jill Hennessy, announced that former chief executive of Mercy health, Dr John Ballard, had been appointed as administrator of Djerriwarrh following her decision to sack the board.
Ballard, who also led the review into baby deaths at the hospital, told reporters while he did not have the exact figures, “several women have cancelled” their appointments to give birth with the hospital.
“But the majority of bookings remain stable,” he said.
Guardian Australia has requested the exact figure from the health service.
Rebuilding public confidence in the health service and overhauling clinical governance procedures would be among his priorities in the administrator role, Ballard said.
Hennessy said she met the sacked board members on Sunday, and nothing they had to say convinced her the decision to fire them was wrong.
“This is one of the greatest clinical governance health failures that we’ve seen in the Victorian health system,” she said.
“It is incumbent upon me and the government to put in place a safe service. I had no basis or confidence that we could do that if the board continued.”
Baby deaths were not being routinely recorded, reviewed or investigated under the previous hospital administration, Hennessy said, which she found “unacceptable”.
“There is no way around the fact that the board failed when it came to their clinical governance duties,” she said.
“It’s quite harrowing to hear all the stories of people who have lost their babies, whether those were avoidable or unavoidable deaths, and [to hear from] people who have had really bad experiences at Djerriwarrh as well.”
The coroner was in the process of deciding which of the seven deaths required an inquest.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency apologised earlier this month for the length of the investigation into a long-serving doctor at Djerriwarrh, who had first been the subject of a complaint in 2013 because of concerns about his care of a mother of a stillborn baby.
The doctor surrendered his medical registration on 1 October.