Dandenong Hospital takes steps to fight … Baby deaths

By Nicole Williams
NEWBORN babies are 42 per cent less likely to survive after being delivered at Dandenong Hospital than other Victorian hospitals, new State Government figures reveal.
The State Government report released last month, prepared by the Department of Health with Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity, examined the perinatal (immediately before and after birth) mortality rate of babies born at 32 weeks or more gestation between 2005 and 2009.
But Dandenong Hospital blamed external factors for the figures.
“Many women attending Dandenong Hospital are recent arrivals to Australia and have difficulty accessing pregnancy care,” a spokesperson said.
“Refugee arrivals are particularly vulnerable and we are working with those communities to better provide pregnancy care and better understand their needs.”
The report compared 24 public hospitals around the state and Dandenong Hospital was second only to Latrobe Regional Hospital in Traralgon, where babies were 57 per cent less likely to survive.
The figures included stillbirths and deaths that occurred within 28 days of life and excluded terminations, deaths due to congenital anomalies and very premature babies.
All hospitals needed to review every perinatal death to identify opportunities to improve care procedures and systems, according to the report.
The Dandenong Hospital spokesperson said the hospital was aware of the issue and had been constantly monitoring and reviewing the pregnancy outcomes.
“We are aware that the rate of pregnancy loss among women attending Dandenong Hospital is higher than we would like,” she said.
”We have been looking very closely at this over the past three to four years and have identified some likely causes.”
Recent migrants and refugees were highlighted as a likely cause, as well as pregnancy complications caused by avoidable factors such as smoking in pregnancy.
The spokesperson said an expert panel investigated all perinatal deaths at the hospital and recommendations were used to improve services.
“We are increasing the number of pregnancy care clinics we have with the aim of improving access to care for all women but particularly for those who find it difficult to pay for care in private rooms,” she said.
“We are also looking at how care is provided to different groups of women to see if we can better meet women’s needs and so improve outcomes.”