Calvary Lenah Valley Hospital, a Catholic not-for-profit healthcare provider, will pick up the shortfall in vital maternity services in Hobart following the recent announcement that Hobart Private Hospital will be closing its maternity ward. Source: Hobart Archdiocese.
The ward closure signified a major crisis in maternal healthcare in Hobart, as Hobart Private currently facilitates around 500 births each year.
National private hospital operation and healthcare provider Healthscope announced on February 20 that it would cease to provide maternity services at Hobart Private from August 20 “due to ongoing workforce challenges”.
The closure is part of a broader crisis with many private maternity wards closing around Australia in recent times, due to the unprofitable nature of maternal care for both private health providers and private health insurers.
The closures will place pressure on the public healthcare system and Catholic health providers to take on those expectant mothers who can’t access maternity services at a private hospital.
Calvary Lenah Valley currently facilitates about 380 births each year.
A media release from Hobart Private Hospital stated the “difficult decision” came after a “thorough review of the operational viability of the service” and was primarily attributed to an inability to “recruit any new appropriately qualified midwives to work in the maternity ward”.
However, Calvary Health Care CEO Martin Bowles responded that “the announcement by Healthscope had put profit before care, creating enormous uncertainty for mothers-to-be, their families, and the obstetric and maternity workforce, while adding pressure to not-for-profit and public operators”.
“Calvary has been delivering compassionate and high-quality care to expectant mothers in Hobart for 80 years,” Mr Bowles said. “And we are committed to supporting the changing and increasing needs of the community.”
FULL STORY
Calvary steps in to care for mothers and babies amid healthcare crisis (By Catherine Sheehan, Hobart Archdiocese)
