2 weeks Ago By Damon Cronshaw
Pregnant women could be sent from the Central Coast to Newcastle or Sydney to give birth due to the region being left with only one struggling maternity unit . Login or signup to continue reading Wyong Hospital's birthing unit was being converted into offices and rooms for locums to sleep, the NSW Nurses and Midwives ' Association revealed. "We're absolutely devastated.
This is a big gap in our system," the association's Wyong Hospital branch president Kelly Falconer said. "We were totally unaware this was going to happen. This is not just maternity services, it's gynaecological and obstetrics too.
" She said midwives were "leaving right, left and centre". "We voted for this government because we were told we'd get safe staffing." Wyong Hospital's midwife-led birthing unit closed temporarily in 2020 during the pandemic and became a COVID ward.
"We were told then it was only temporary and the midwives were moved to Gosford ," Ms Falconer said. She said hospital staff thought "we could get politicians together and re-open it". "But we found they had gutted it and turned it into offices and rooms for locums to sleep.
" Baths from the birthing unit had been removed, which "puts the nail in the coffin". Central Coast Health acting chief executive Jude Constable said "birthing baths were removed that were no longer fit-for-purpose". "All other birthing suite infrastructure has been retained to enable the space to be returned to its original use if required," Ms Constable said.
Minister for the Central Coast David Harris said he was not consulted on the Wyong birthing unit decision. Mr Harris, the Wyong MP, had spoken to Health Minister Minister Ryan Park and "requested an urgent meeting". He sought to ensure that "maternity services are part of any future upgrades to Wyong Hospital".
Ms Constable said Gosford Hospital provided "24-hour midwifery, obstetric, anaesthetic and paediatric support". Nonetheless, Gosford's obstetric and gynaecology service will be stripped of its accredited trainee doctors from February. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists made the decision last year over concerns for doctor welfare and patient safety.
It cited a failure to support junior doctors treating pregnant women and patients, as senior doctors were overloaded. "As of February, they will only be allowed to do low-risk births at Gosford," Ms Falconer said. "The obstetricians have gone from 6 FTE [full-time equivalent] down to 2.
2." Additionally, maternity services will end at Gosford Private Hospital in March. It leaves about 4100 births a year on the Central Coast to occur at Gosford's under-pressure public service.
"They're trying to make up the numbers with locums. They get paid $3000 to $4000 a day for that," Ms Falconer said. "The government is willing to pay locums exorbitant fees, but not pay obstetricians appropriately to work here.
Paying for locums is a Band-Aid fix." Shadow Minister for the Central Coast Adam Crouch raised concerns in December that "hundreds of expectant mothers" may be "diverted to hospitals in Sydney or Newcastle". Ms Falconer said surgery needed for pregnancy emergencies would continue to occur at Gosford.
"But if it's a planned high-risk birth they'll be transferred to Royal North Shore or John Hunter." However, John Hunter Hospital was "dealing with all the regional and rural areas". "Tamworth is in a world of hurt at the moment.
They're sending their pregnant women to John Hunter." Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition. Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition.
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