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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 663 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 26 October 2021 by Ms L. Mettam

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

HOSPITALS — MATERNITY BYPASSES

663. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:

I refer to the concerning revelations that there have been more than 60 maternity bypasses recorded at Perth hospitals over three months amid an ongoing chronic shortage of midwives.

(1) Why has the minister not prioritised the recruitment of midwives and prevented the completely unacceptable level of maternity bypasses?

(2) What urgent measures are being implemented to address capacity issues amid the expected baby boom over the next few months?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

(1)–(2) I thank the member for the question. It is important for members to realise that in the last 12 months of the Liberal–National government's time in government, the number of midwives in Western Australia in service decreased by 5.3 per cent. In the time that we have been in government, we have increased the number of midwives by over 100. The member pointed to the issue around bypasses and, yes, it is always preferable that someone who is delivering their baby in the public system will be able to deliver that baby in the hospital in which they choose and preferably with the midwife who has been caring for them throughout their pregnancy, but it is not always the case. It is not always possible, but it is preferable. We understand that.

I think it is important to understand the context here. For instance, between June and August 2016, the number of bypasses under the Liberal–National government was 38 in south metropolitan hospitals alone. This is coming from the party that in government closed down Kaleeya maternity hospital and also for a period threatened to shut the maternity services at Bentley Hospital, notwithstanding the strong campaign put on by members of the community and the Labor opposition at the time to stop that. We have seen a significant increase in the number of people having their children delivered in the public system. There has been a 12.4 per cent increase since 2015–16, so there has been a sharp increase in the number of women seeking to deliver their babies in the public hospital system. That of itself is a vote of confidence. We have also seen a significant drop in the number of women accessing private health insurance for the delivery of their babies, particularly during this COVID period. That, of course, is another vote of confidence.

The way that we respond to these sorts of demands for services is to increase supply, and we are doing that through a significant recruitment campaign. As I said, 100 extra midwives have been employed in our services since we came to government, with another 15 since January this year. What people would also be looking for from a government is for it to make long-term plans to make sure that we secure the quality and safety of maternity services in Western Australia into the future. They would probably look to indicators such as $1.8 billion for a new women's and newborns' hospital to be developed at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre campus.

I will be lectured to by a lot of people, but preferably not the Australian Medical Association, which got its line wrong this morning and, quite frankly, was just spreading mistruths, certainly not the Liberal Party under which in its last 12 months in government we saw a reduction in the number of midwives working in the hospital system, and certainly not from those opposite who closed maternity services or sought to close maternity services and under whose watch there was a much higher number of maternity bypasses in south metropolitan hospitals.