A birthing unit on the NSW Central Coast has been gutted and replaced with offices and sleeping quarters for doctors on-call, blindsiding mothers and midwives and leaving a population of more than 350,000 with only one maternity unit.
No babies have been delivered at Wyong Hospital since its maternity unit closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and management failed to find sufficient staff to reopen the service.
Photos of birthing baths removed from Wyong Hospital after its maternity unit was converted to offices and sleeping quarters.
But hopes of a reopening were dashed when staff noticed the hospital’s three birthing tubs had been removed and construction walls erected.
NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) delegate Dee Dobson, who has worked as a midwife at Gosford and Wyong hospitals for 20 years, said the Central Coast Local Health District had not informed staff the unit would be permanently removed.
“It’s been done so quietly and so covertly that not even the staff were aware,” she said. “It’s just devastating for the women of the Central Coast. Women are not being respected by this government at all, especially birthing women, [who] are having their choices removed.”
Expectant mothers on the Central Coast have had their options severely restricted in the past six months, after Gosford Private Hospital announced it was closing the coast’s only private maternity service from March, and the college responsible for overseeing the training future obstetricians and gynaecologists stripped Gosford Public Hospital of its accredited trainees for six months.
Community advocates and health workers had hoped staff from Gosford Private Hospital could be recruited to help revive the birthing unit at Wyong Hospital and help ease the burden.
Fellow union delegate Kelly Falconer said the decision to permanently remove the unit was shortsighted given the population growth around Wyong, where housing estates provided an affordable alternative to Sydney for young families.
“Now that’s done, and it’s been gutted, we won’t get a maternity ward opened in the future,” Falconer said. “This has thrown our hospital back 20 years.”
Acting Central Coast Local Health District chief executive Jude Constable said the construction of a new palliative care unit required the relocation of accommodation for doctors, and the unused birthing unit was identified as a temporary location until a permanent site is found.
Constable said obstetric-led birthing services had not been provided at Wyong since 2008. She confirmed birthing baths had been removed but said they “were no longer fit for purpose”.
“All other birthing suite infrastructure has been retained to enable the space to be returned to its original use, if required,” Constable said.
Dobson said Gosford Hospital was already struggling to keep up with around 3000 births a year, and would not be able to absorb the impact of the private hospital’s closure.
“Nobody’s listening to us,” she said. “Where is the care of women and children on the Central Coast?”
Wyong MP David Harris said he had spoken to Health Minister Ryan Park to request “an urgent meeting to ensure that maternity services are part of any future upgrades to Wyong Hospital”.
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