Unvaccinated dads, siblings face bans in private hospital maternity wards

Mums who have just given birth will not able to see or hug their other children who are under 12 or unvaccinated until they leave Adelaide’s major private hospitals.

Unvaccinated visitors, including children aged under 12, are now banned from private maternity hospitals including Ashford, Burnside, Calvary North Adelaide, Flinders Private, The Memorial and North Eastern Community.

Fathers hoping to be present for the delivery of their babies in Adelaide’s major private hospitals will need to have one Covid-19 jab by Wednesday and be fully vaccinated by December 22.

A limit of two vaccinated visitors a day for each patient is now in force.

The move has already resulted in some families cancelling plans to have their baby in a private hospital and switching to the public health system, which is yet to make such a ruling.

Senior Adelaide obstetrician Dr Chris Sexton

The private maternity hospitals agreed on the united approach in the interests of consistency and avoiding the confusion of slightly different rules in different situations.

All hospitals will continue to see expecting mothers regardless of vaccination status, but maternity patients and their partner or support person will be asked to show evidence of a negative Covid test on admission.

As well as reducing the number of unvaccinated people in hospitals, the guidelines aim to limit visitor numbers to protect mothers and babies, along with vulnerable patients on the surgical, medical, oncology and palliative wards.

Senior Adelaide obstetrician Dr Chris Sexton, who works across several private hospitals, said the guidelines aimed to give a clear and consistent message across the private maternity sector.

While private hospitals have moved to ban unvaccinated visitors generally, Dr Sexton said keeping young siblings and unvaccinated fathers out of maternity units was “a hot issue.”

“I know it will be hard on mums not to be able to see their other unvaccinated children and introduce the new baby but there are legitimate reasons,” he said.

“No one really wants to be giving nasal swabs to youngsters, and events interstate have demonstrated that young children who cannot be vaccinated are often asymptomatic with Covid infection and have been an unintentional cause of spreading infection.”

Flinders Private Hospital has banned unvaccinated visitors as have other major private facilities. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“It will also be hard on some fathers and I appreciate it will cause some distress, but I would really ask that people don’t get angry with nurses and midwives and staff over this.

Dr Sexton said the rules had been determined by hospital executive committees in conjunction with obstetric, paediatric and infectious disease specialists.

“The nursing staff continue to work tirelessly to maintain the safest environment possible, including themselves being 100 per cent fully vaccinated, and deserve courtesy and appreciation.”

Children aged 12 years and older who wish to visit will be required to show evidence of being fully vaccinated. They, and the father or support person, will be included in the limit of two vaccinated visitors per patient, per day.

Dr Sexton said it was a challenging time for families.

“We went through a similar time in the middle of 2020 and continued to deliver beautiful babies to healthy mothers,” he said.

Ankle op cancelled for unvaxxed patient

An Adelaide woman being treated for cancer says she has had a separate orthopaedic operation cancelled because she is not vaccinated.

The woman, 56, who asked not to be named, says her GP now also refuses to see her face-to-face.

She says she is not an anti-vaxxer but has been ill and fears her immune and general health system is so compromised by the cancer that she does not want the vaccine.

The woman had cancer of the uterus several years ago and on Monday underwent a biopsy to see if further surgery was needed after it reappeared.

Her daughter, who is not vaccinated, was unable to accompany her into the private hospital for the operation as unvaccinated visitors are no longer allowed.

The woman says that following a workplace accident she also was due to have an ankle operation at Orthopaedics SA followed by a knee procedure. However, these have now been cancelled and she has been offered a telephone consultation.

Orthopaedics SA policy from November 22 is “all patients and visitors aged 16 years and older will be required to be fully (double) Covid-19 vaccinated to enter our rooms. “Unvaccinated patients will be offered a telehealth phone or video consult if appropriate.”

“I am not anti-vaccination — I have had my flu shot — but in my state I am absolutely terrified of this vaccine,” the woman said.

Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton warned the public health system faced even more pressure while already dealing with the ambulance ramping crisis as GPs and private providers decline to see unvaccinated patients face-to-face.

“If the government doesn’t have a plan for these patients then they will likely go to emergency which will see the hospital crisis get worse,” he said.

Originally published as Unvaccinated dads, siblings face bans in private hospital maternity wards