EVEN MATERNITY FACILITIES ARE SHRINKING

And not just because of insurance costs. The Australian State of New South Wales again:

Camden Hospital's maternity unit - which was opened in a marginal south-west Sydney electorate with great fanfare just months before the state election in 2003 - will be effectively closed and births transferred to Campbelltown Hospital. The move comes as the Health Care Complaints Commission indicated it would bring disciplinary charges against a nurse and doctor over the death of a baby, Natalia Lalic, at the unit in March 2003. A document the commission sent to the child's mother, Vera, this week said there had been "a number of departures from an acceptable standard of care" by one nurse and disciplinary proceedings were pending against the nurse and a doctor.

The Opposition Leader, John Brogden, accused the Government of "dirty and grubby tactics" in announcing the changes at Camden at a time which masked the impact of the commission's disciplinary actions.

But the Health Minister, Morris Iemma, yesterday delivered the death blow to the unit, citing medical workforce shortages in anaesthetics, pediatrics and obstetrics. For two years "we have done all we can to maintain the current service model but the changing circumstances of Camden Hospital demand that the services we provide also reflect the current situation", Mr Iemma said. Pregnant women in the area will now travel to Campbelltown Hospital, 14 kilometres from Camden, and transfer back to the Camden unit, in some cases two hours after a birth. Camden will ultimately become a hospital where nursing midwives assist at "non-complicated" births, while complex cases or emergencies go to Campbelltown. Mr Iemma denied the change resulted from a hasty political decision before the 2003 election. "The commitment was there to try and make it work, but two years down the track, after two inquiries, it's clear it's not sustainable due to these shortages of specialists," he said.

Last month the head of the NSW Pregnancy and Newborn Services Network, David Henderson-Smart, investigated the viability of the unit. Professor Henderson-Smart's inquiry last year recommended Camden continue with low-risk births, a proposal strongly criticised by local obstetricians and anaesthetists.

Mr Brogden said the original move was an "election con". The Government knew before the election that opening the unit was unsafe for mothers and their babies, Mr Brogden said. "Lives were put at risk in the rush to open the maternity unit, and in the tragic case of baby Natalia Lalic, lives were lost," he said.

Mr Iemma refused to discuss the Lalic case, saying it was the subject of a coronial inquiry and a commission complaint.

The letter to Natalie's mother from the acting commissioner, Ken Taylor, said one nurse had been counselled and no action taken against another. But it said the evidence indicated a third nurse "appeared to focus exclusively on your physical needs, without showing any insight into your emotional needs at the time".

The executive officer of the Australian College of Midwives, Barbara Vernon, rejected the Opposition's claim that Camden was unsafe, citing national statistics that showed it had an error rate well below the average.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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