A QUEENSLAND Health patient safety expert has held crisis talks with Rockhampton Hospital staff amid serious concerns about maternity services in the wake of a baby’s death and injuries to three others in the past 12 months.
The department’s Deputy Director-General John Wakefield, who oversees clinical excellence, flew to Rockhampton after nurses and midwives at the hospital demanded urgent staff increases, fearing for the safety of mothers and babies.
Dr Wakefield is a former executive director of Queensland’s Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Service which was disbanded under the Newman government.
Rockhampton Hospital midwives passed a vote of no confidence in Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service CEO Len Richards and other senior management over their handling of long-term staffing and training issues.
The turmoil has been compounded by the resignation of the hospital’s director of obstetrics, Dr Mohamed Abdeen, who finished last week.
Mr Richards said interviews for a new director would be completed within days.
Midwives and nurses at the hospital have been angry that some recommendations of internal investigations into clinical incidents, known as root cause analyses, have not been implemented by management.
They say midwives are frequently unable to attend mandatory training sessions, such as those required to stay up-to-date with resuscitation techniques for mothers and babies in case of an emergency.
Queensland Nurses’ Union assistant secretary Sandra Eales said Rockhampton Hospital midwives struggled with “ridiculous, unsafe workloads”.
“They’ve all been doing excessive overtime,” she said. “They get very little down time because they are constantly called in to do extra shifts.”
Mr Richards ordered an external review into the Rockhampton Hospital’s maternity unit this month. He said a panel of three experts — an obstetrician, midwife and neonatologist — had agreed to conduct a three-month review which would start next month.
He said the Queensland chairwoman of the Australian College of Midwives, Susan Foyle, was also working with the hospital to examine the maternity unit’s staffing levels, skill mix and activity.
Mr Richards said the hospital advertised for qualified midwives last October, with more ads placed last week.
He said while some recommendations from root cause analyses into clinical incidents had been actioned, staff were still working on others.
“Some service-wide recommendations can take longer to implement,” Mr Richards said.