Unit still on hold

A dedicated midwife unit for Busselton Hospital remains on the backburner despite an increase in births at the facility.

WA Country Health Service operations manager Rory Stemp said despite a steady increase in the number of babies born at Busselton Hospital, the numbers were “substantially” below those required to reinstate the dedicated midwife service.

The Times reported a dedicated unit was cut from the hospital in June 2009 with midwives assigned to general nursing tasks after the number of births at the facility decreased.

Last week the WA Health Department announced a record number of births in its latest 2008 statistics with the 30,234 more than 1000 more than the previous year.

Mr Stemp confirmed births in Busselton increased from 226 in 2008 to 262 last year but varying frequency suggested the numbers were not high enough to demand the return of the dedicated midwife service.

He did not respond to questions asking the minimum births required to reinstate the service.

“The number of births has varied between eight and 30 a month in the last three years, making it very difficult to ensure that a midwife is rostered on at all times unless they take on general nursing tasks when they have the capacity to do so,” he said.

Mr Stemp said midwives worked primarily with mothers and babies but were allocated non-midwifery tasks during periods of lower activity.

Mr Stemp said the arrangement provided additional support for general ward nurses, but he did not rule out the return of the service.

Although the redevelopment of the Busselton Hospital was based on a shared midwife and nursing roster, he said the facility would be designed to include the option of a separate midwife unit if it became viable.

The facility is earmarked for completion in 2014.

A WA Health Department report found 99 per cent of births occurred in a hospital.