At least seven babies have been given to the wrong mothers to breastfeed in New South Wales hospitals in recent years, the State Opposition has revealed.
But the State Government has downplayed the significance of the figures, saying no long-term harm came to the mothers or babies involved.
Documents obtained by Labor under freedom of information laws show that between 2011 and 2015 public hospital staff mixed up seven newborns and placed them in the arms of the wrong mothers to be fed.
The document from NSW Health states: “In all cases the error was discovered soon after the incidents occurred.”
The Opposition’s health spokesman, Walt Secord, said the mix ups would have been traumatic for the mothers, and potentially dangerous for the babies.
“I’m not a mum, but I’m a dad and I do know the importance of the first contact, the bonding, between a mother and a newborn,” he said.
“Imagine the trauma of finding out that a baby that you’ve just nursed in the first hours after giving birth is not your child.
“This is devastating, and there are also health risks associated with breastfeeding someone else’s baby.”
Overstressed health system the problem, Opposition says
He said the mix ups were the symptom of an overstressed health system.
“This is the human cost of the massive cuts to the health system. Nurses have said that they’re short staffed and when you are under-resourced, mistakes happen,” Mr Secord said.
But Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the number of mix ups was tiny compared to the number of babies born in the state’s hospitals.
“It’s a very rare event when you consider that half a million babies were born in our public hospitals over that period,” Ms Skinner said.
She said the mistakes were not the result of budget cuts, but simple human error.
“It is very regrettable but fortunately I’m told that there’s been no long lasting effect in either mother or babies in this cases,” she said.
“This has got absolutely nothing to do with any staff or budget cuts.
“We’ve in fact increased the budget dramatically since I’ve been the minister and we’ve employed more nurses, more midwives than ever before.”
Labor called for the Government to give more information about the mix ups, including naming the hospitals involved.
Mr Secord said the number of mix ups could be much larger, because the State Government did not have records for similar incidents in the private hospital system.