Townsville faces maternity challenge as private paediatricians withdraw from Mater Hospital
The Mater has allayed fears Townsville could lose its private maternity unit permanently after the shock announcement the hospital cannot provide paediatric on-call services for newborns next year.
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The Mater has allayed fears Townsville could lose its private maternity unit permanently after the shock announcement the hospital cannot provide paediatric on call services for newborns next year.
The gravity of the situation was outlined in an email sent to staff last week that revealed the Mater had not been successful in employing a paediatrician to the Townsville’s Mater Hospital.
The president of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Gino Pecoro said he feared Townsville would follow in the path of the Cairns private maternity unit that collapsed due to problems with paediatric services.
“Townsville’s private maternity unit is in dire danger of suffering the same fate as Cairns,” he said.
“This is devastating news for the women of North Queensland who will lose even more choice for having their babies. A shortage of private paediatricians has been cited in Townsville, resulting in pressure on the viability of its private maternity unit.
“This in turn, is in danger of precipitating an unworkable increased demand on public maternity units leading to the same cascade of events that led to Gladstone needing to go on bypass for a year and Cairns struggling to provide adequate staffing to meet its clinical need.”
On Tuesday the Mater moved to reassure families there was “no threat” that would see Townsville follow in Cairns’ footsteps in closing private maternity services altogether and was actively recruiting for more specialists to deliver babies.
The gravity of the situation was made clear in the email from Townsville Paediatrics dated August 9, signed by Dr Betty Wamola, Dr Sithambarampillai Sivayoganathan and Dr Adele Heyer.
The letter states: “This is to inform you that despite our efforts to recruit a new pediatrician, we are currently unable to confirm that we will have someone joining us to help cover Mater Women’s unit, Townsville”.
The situation is further complicated by Dr Heyer’s upcoming retirement on October 31, 2024, which will leave just two paediatricians, Dr Wamola and Dr Sivayoganathan, to cover the unit.
The letter emphasises that this workload is not sustainable, especially when one of the doctors is on leave, as it would leave only one pediatrician responsible for 24-hour coverage.
“We are committed to providing safe and sustainable pediatric on-call coverage for babies born at the Mater Townsville, but it will no longer be viable to do this without ongoing support from outside of our practice,” the letter continues.
“As of 31st December 2024, we are no longer able to provide a private pediatric on-call service to Mater Townsville.”
The letter ends with a serious warning: “This notice is to avoid any misunderstanding of the gravity of the decision and to ask our Obstetric colleagues and Mater Hospital Townsville to seriously consider this when booking newborn deliveries from 1st January 2025, as they will have to source alternative options.”
A Mater spokesperson labelled the paediatricians shortage “a serious nationwide challenge” for all private and not-for-profit hospitals providing maternity services.
“Mater has advocated to state and federal governments, both independently and as a member of Catholic Healthcare Australia, for a sector-wide, collaborative solution that improves the incentives for paediatricians to deliver on-call maternity services,” the spokesperson said.
Mater says they are working closely with Queensland Health and the Department on the crisis to fill the gap private practice Townsville Paediatrics will leave at the end of the year.
“Townsville Paediatrics recently advised Mater it would be unable to provide on-call pediatric services to Mater from 31 December 2024, following a reduction in the practice’s specialists,” the Mater spokesperson said.
“Mater Private Hospital Townsville is working across its network of 11 hospitals in Queensland, as well as the broader medical sector, to recruit additional paediatricians.
“Mater can reassure families that there is no threat to the continuation of our private maternity service where 600 Townsville babies are born each year.
“Mater is committed to providing the safe, trusted maternity care that generations of North Queensland families have experienced.”
Originally published as Townsville faces maternity challenge as private paediatricians withdraw from Mater Hospital
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