Community
1 November, 2024
Concerns for future of maternity services
CONCERNS for the future of maternity services across the district were brought to the forefront at South West Healthcare’s Warrnambool campus last week.
Camperdown local and former maternity nurse Cristina Miskin met with Roma Britnell in Warrnambool on Friday to highlight her concerns.
“After a recent short recess of maternity services at the Camperdown Hospital these were returned, however, it was only a matter of weeks before Camperdown was put on bypass and maternity patients were redirected to Warrnambool,” Ms Miskin said.
“Women, particularly those in labour, can’t afford to travel an hour or more to access these services. They need to be supported in Camperdown.
“We have wonderful midwives and hospital staff at Camperdown who are feeling the strain and they need and deserve to be supported.
“Over the past 15 years or so Camperdown has been extremely stable in terms of theatre staff and recently, I believe, two new midwives were employed.”
Ms Miskin also recently heard of an instance where one expectant mother was now considering a home birth because of the “unstable” situation at Camperdown.
“It is simply unsafe for these women to be forced to travel to Warrnambool to access maternity services; they need security and peace of mind that the maternity services at Camperdown will continue as they have in the past.”
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell threw her support behind retaining the service at Camperdown, saying South West Healthcare should consider this as a priority.
“There appears to be a very real fear in the community that if staff walk away the maternity service will cease at Camperdown and that’s just not good enough,” Ms Britnell said.
“These staff are under immense pressure and need assurance that the future of the service is secure and that their positions at the Camperdown hospital are secure.”
In a statement issued last Friday morning, South West Healthcare said that while they had not received any formal request to meet with the Camperdown community group that initiated last Friday’s gathering, they would have welcomed the chance to discuss any concerns they may have had prior to Friday.
“We are always happy to meet with people or groups that might have concerns, and we do so regularly,” the statement read.
“These groups usually make contact and request to meet with us through the appropriate channels and we encourage those wishing to do so, follow those processes.”
The statement continued:
South West Healthcare remains committed to providing birthing services at Camperdown, with this service still in operation, having birthed four babies in September and (as at last Friday) two babies so far in October.
At no stage have we considered closing the Camperdown Hospital birthing service.
Due to factors such as staff availability, the service will from time to time need to go on diversion, with all affected women informed and alternative arrangements put in place.
This process is not unusual for rural hospitals.
South West Healthcare will continue to work closely with our midwives, doctors and staff at Camperdown to ensure the availability of this service.
