Page 2177 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2018
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breastfeeding; early discharge of patients home despite problems; one patient from Captains Flat and one from Goulburn being sent home even though they were in the early stages of labour and were high-risk pregnancies; patients feeling like staff were not listening to their concerns; and a lack of pain relief.
Something that has always been an issue for me as a health consumer is the quality and availability of food in the wards. It was reported to me through the survey that often after labour women go for long periods without being given any food because there is none available and there are no kitchen staff. One woman who is a vegetarian claimed she was unable to get appropriate food until she was given vouchers to cash in at the staff canteen. So she had to go off the ward to the canteen to obtain appropriate vegetarian meals.
It is clear from the midwives’ letter and from the experiences of a significant number of patients—I am talking around 100 patients who have responded to my survey—that there are major problems with maternity services at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, and I am concerned about the pressure that this puts staff under. It is clear there is much we need to do in this area.
I have had complaints about the under-utilisation of the birth centre for its principal purposes, even though there is a waitlist for people who want to access the birth centre. The minister has admitted they are perplexed about the fact that there is such high demand for maternity services at the Centenary hospital while Calvary hospital is somewhat under-utilised. I also note that, while it is a private hospital, John James hospital is somewhat under-utilised as well.
We need to find a happy medium whereby we fully and appropriately utilise all the maternity facilities available to us in the ACT to ensure we have, as much as possible, safe, natural births for those people who wish it; safe interventions in birth for those people who need it; and people labouring in our hospitals in appropriate circumstances and with appropriate care in the post-natal period so we do not have high rates of readmission, which is one of the issues raised by the letter writers to the minister on 16 April as well as by respondents to my survey. A number of people reported readmission of their babies as a result of substantial weight loss after birth, and that is a matter of considerable concern to me. This should not be happening in a First World country in the 21st century.
It is clear we have problems in our maternity system, and they are not just problems of money; they are problems of how those resources are divided up, how we administer our maternity services and how we make sure the services are available as equitably as possible at the right level for the right person.
I have moved this motion today to refer this issue to the health and community services and ageing committee because the matter is becoming of considerable concern to women of the ACT in particular, as well as to their widespread families and to the staff in maternity services. It is time we had a proper airing and exploration of the issues.
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