Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I rise this evening to speak on the situation of maternity services in southern Tasmania. Maternity services at Royal Hobart Hospital are under pressure. The ANMF has reported for years that staffing levels are a problem and last year they clearly called out how unsafe the staffing was for mothers and babies. In January, the independent investigation into maternity services found the number of permanent staff does not come close to the required FTE for the unit.
Unions have long called for staffing models that reflect the work of caring for mothers and babies. The model currently used does not factor in the demands on midwives when caring for mothers and babies and in addition to that, in January the independent investigation into maternity services found staff do not know how to use the model and there is confusion about how it should be applied and so it is not doing what it needs to ensure sufficient staff on the ward.
That is the current situation. Public maternity services are already overwhelmed and now, in addition to that, we have the announcement from Hobart Private Hospital that they will no longer provide maternity services from 20 August. This is a disaster. The Hobart Private Hospital provided vital maternity care, delivering 600 babies a year. This is a significant number of births in the context of 2000 births a year at the Royal and moving those deliveries from Hobart Private Hospital to other services will result in added strain on an already fragile system, risking the safety of parents, babies and staff by increasing the likelihood of injury, complications and, hopefully it never happens, but a worst case scenario, even death.
The abrupt closure of these essential services at Hobart Private at such short notice leaves expectant families unsure what this means for them and where they will find alternative care options. This causes significant stress and uncertainty at what can already be a stressful, anxious time when parents are particularly needing continuity of care as they prepare for birth. The Tasmanian Greens call on the Liberal government to reassure Tasmanians as to how the remaining maternity services will be supported to cope with this increasing demand.
We note that since the Hobart Private Hospital announcement, the federal government has announced $6 million in funding for infrastructure and equipment at the Royal Hobart Hospital and Calvary Hospitals, and the state government has outlined how this money will be used and where it will go. This funding is welcome, but it does not address all the issues here, including an over-reliance on private health services. We understand that world choice is important and private hospitals provide for that choice. We need to ensure that public services are sufficient to meet the needs of Tasmanians.
The other issue is the staffing issue, and it is important to put this whole situation in context of this other issue. The ANMF have long been calling for staffing to be addressed within maternity services. The Rockliff government has not been doing enough to attract midwives to Tasmanian hospitals. We understand, we have had people contacting our officers, explaining that they have been trying to apply for jobs within the health system and there have been recruitment blockages to them and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) have also confirmed that this has been an issue.
The other thing that is happening at the moment is that there have been announcements of staff cuts – and you can call them natural attrition, you can call them hiring freeze on non‑essential jobs, but what this means is that the Health Department is in a situation where it is trying to reduce costs and find ways to reduce staff to save money. This is really concerning in a context where we know that we already have a health service and a maternity service that is under pressure.
The Greens are calling on the government to take action to do the work to recruit more midwives. We understand that, with the shifts and changes in the Hobart Private Hospital closing, that there may be some opportunities there to recruit staff, but we would encourage the Health Department and the government to be looking at ways to offer midwives a market allowance that attracts more staff and retains midwives.
This is something that the ANMF have been calling for, for a number of years, a market allowance for midwives to help boost the staffing numbers within the maternity service. We encourage and call on the government to do what they can to ensure that midwives feel valued, that there are enough midwives on the ward and that there is a safe service there for the people of Tasmania.
