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
By LILLY O’GORMAN
COMPETITION from Berwick hospitals caused the shock closure of the South Eastern Private Hospital maternity unit in Noble Park last Friday.
Some 250 expectant mothers booked to deliver at the hospital this year, including from Casey and Cardinia, were affected.
Hayley Carns was already overdue on Monday 2 July, when the Noble Park hospital announced the closure.
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.
SEPH CEO Neil Henderson said the closure was because of too much competition from private and public hospitals which made the unit unviable.
“Our birthing numbers fell to 500 per annum and further declining which is only 2.7 per cent of the maternity market in the south east,” Mr Henderson said.
“In particular, new private and public hospitals developed over past few years in Berwick had major impact on us (St John of God and Casey Public).”
“We were not happy having to close the service as it has been a long-standing service to the community.”
Mr Henderson said the competitor hospitals worked to relocate the 40 families booked for July and the 250 booked through to end of this year.
He said all of the affected families were provided with a list of 13 alternative hospitals with contact names and numbers of midwifery units.
Mr Henderson said the hospital would have experienced a staff shortage if more notice was given about the closure.
“The reason is that by prolonging the notice period we could not guarantee a safe service,” Mr Henderson said.
“(We) would not have had staff as they had a lot of sick leave which they would most likely take.
“In fact, four staff phoned in sick within the 24 hours of advising the closure, so our expectations were confirmed quickly.”
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.
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.
SJOG Berwick’s CEO Lisa Norman said the hospital had a guaranteed place for all mums wishing to transfer there.
