Hayley Carns said the closure of South Eastern Private Hospital’s maternity ward came as a shock, just two days before she gave birth. 83854 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS
By Lilly O’Gorman
EXPECTANT mothers in Casey and Cardinia were affected by the shock closure of the South Eastern Private Hospital maternity unit in Noble Park last Friday.
Hayley Carns was already overdue on Monday 2 July, when the Noble Park hospital announced the closure of its maternity unit.
The Narre Warren South mum was sent to St John Of God Hospital (SJOG) the next day, and her daughter Kiara was delivered there on the Wednesday.
Ms Carns said the situation was stressful, because choosing a hospital was usually decided early on in the pregnancy.
“It was a little bit stressful, I guess because I was already overdue then having to race around at the last minute,” Ms Carns said.
By Wednesday, SJOG had delivered three babies of families affected by the closure and had put in place a dedicated team to book in all of the 250 parents it estimated would be affected over the coming months.
SEPH did not respond to the Gazette’s inquiries regarding the number of expectant parents booked into the hospital at the time of the announcement, the amount of assistance given to those parents in making alternative arrangements, and why the staff and patients were given such short notice about the closure.
In a statement from Healthe Care, operator of SEPH, the closure was said to be a move to “make way for the expansion of essential health care services.”
The statement also said of the “few” staff impacted by the closure, most would be provided with the option to transfer to alternative facilities within the Healthe Care Group network of hospitals and all would receive extensive job search assistance and support.
Healthe Care CEO Steve Atkins said he was confident that the community’s current and future needs for maternity services would be met.
““The decision to close the maternity unit was made after thoughtful planning and consideration which indicated that there was a strong supply of maternity services and that the community would significantly benefit from our expansion of essential health care services,” Mr Atkins said.
SJOG Berwick’s CEO Lisa Norman said the hospital had a guaranteed place for all mums wishing to transfer there.
“I can only begin to imagine the distress of having your hospital changed at such short notice, particularly for parents who are due in the next week/month as they have little time to adjust and accept this change,” Ms Norman said.
Ms Norman said SJOG Berwick had, since the announcement last week, set up additional booking consultations and hospital tours and opened a 24-hour helpline.
Its theatre capacity, theatre staff, paediatricians and anaesthetists had also been increased to accommodate elective and emergency caesareans.
There is direct patient access to the maternity care manager to answer questions and concerns and dedicated administration staff to handle and process patient paperwork.
