A critical shortage of staff at Wollongong Hospital’s maternity unit is leaving midwives “stretched and stressed”.
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That’s the word from Denis Wann – president of the Wollongong branch of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association – who has called for urgent improvements to maternity services.
On October 24, at the launch of a community awareness campaign, the clinical midwifery educator said he feared patient safety would be severely compromised unless action was taken.
‘’A review of BirthRate Plus in March 2016 showed that Wollongong Hospital was 19.5 midwives short,’’ he said. ‘’This critical shortage is leaving midwives so stretched and stressed that they can’t give the care they want to give.
‘’Every midwife goes to work wanting to do the best for mothers and babies … it’s awful seeing senior clinicians breaking down crying because they just can’t do that.’’
Mr Wann said typically one midwife can care for up to 26 women – a ratio that was not safe.
‘’Wollongong Hospital is a tertiary referral hospital and as the only major birthing site in the region north of Shoalhaven, it should be providing a much higher standard to the community,’’ he said.
‘’That’s why we are calling on (NSW Health Minister) Brad Hazzard to urgently intervene.”
The NSWNMA has joined forces with Better Births Illawarra, a consumer group formed to lobby the hospital to expand its Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) services.
‘’Mothers want women-centred care, where they are listened to and are able to make their own decisions,’’ Better Births spokeswoman Melanie Barnes said.
‘’One of the things that gets in the way of this is the high level of understaffing.’’
Bellambi mum Rebekka Klevjer had both her children at Wollongong Hospital.
‘’I felt my care was compromised during both births due to understaffing,’’ she said. ‘’The resources are really outdated and what can be offered is really limited.’’
Wollongong MP Paul Scully said it was high time the state government took notice of community, and staff, concerns: ‘’Wollongong is not a rural or remote hospital – it’s a major regional hospital that’s not meeting basic demand’’.
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District spokeswoman Margaret Martin said currently there were 12 midwife vacancies; and while they were recruiting to fill these vacancies, shifts were being filled with temporary and casual midwives.
‘’We have also been working to fill non-clinical positions to provide midwives with support for domestic and clerical tasks,’’ she said.