Bentley Hospital not safe for caesarian deliveries and maternity services, review suggests

A maternity services review led by a senior obstetrician Con Michael found Bentley Hospital unsuitable for caesarean deliveries and that the hospital doesn’t have any senior staff scheduled during the after-hours. It has also recommended improvements for a number of other metropolitan hospitals in Perth.

The review released on Monday pointed out that the hospital located in the southeast of Perth is in dire need of refurbishment.

"It is not conducive to establishing a different and safe contemporary model of care," read the report. According to the review, the hospital doesn’t have the amenities to conduct caesarean deliveries safely as the obstetricians at the Bentley Hospital are compelled to share operation theatres with other surgical teams. The caesarean rate at the hospital is at 30 per cent.

The report also found that the hospital shows delayed response for caesarian section and has possibility of closing down few of the still-functional operating theatres in the future. For maintaining maternity safety, there should be ready access to an operating theatre for the caesarian section and some operative vaginal deliveries, the report added.

The report came only week after obstetricians voiced their protests against the government for closing down the hospital’s maternity ward on the Sunday Times. The obstetricians called on the health department to stop spreading panic amongst the patients expecting delivery by bringing up false safety issues when the real reason behind the closure is implementation of cuts in WA’s health budget.

Presently, the King Edward Memorial Hospital handles all the high-risk maternity cases but the report recommended the hospital to cater to women with complicated maternity cases who hail from the north of the river. It suggested Fiona Stanley Hospital can deal with patients coming from the south of the river.

To reduce the rate of caesarean deliveries, the report has also suggested a midwife-led continuity care model which it said would be more cost effective and safer than the other models of care.

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