Calls for guarantee over contracts for Redland Hospital midwives

Concerns have been raised over contracts for temporary midwives at a bayside hospital, which has been forced to take on extra work after the closure of a nearby private maternity unit.

The state government says that staffing levels are adequate at the Redland Hospital with full-time equivalent staff numbers rising by more than 6 over the past four years.

Fears are growing that a busy bayside maternity ward will be left understaffed and unable to cope with a population boom, after health authorities refused to guarantee jobs for contract staff.

Concerns about staffing levels at Redland Hospital maternity ward were raised in parliament last week following the sudden closure of the nearby Mater Private Hospital Redland’s maternity ward in May.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman would not confirm jobs for those on contracts and said a decision on non-permanent employment would be made during a review into the Redcliffe Hospital, currently under way.

“Temporary contract arrangements provide backfill for leave such as maternity leave, extended parental leave, higher duty secondments and extended sick leave,” Ms Fentiman said.

“If an employee is engaged on a non-permanent basis, extensions of temporary contract arrangements are dependent on individual circumstances.”

Ms Fentiman said there had been no temporary reductions in Redland maternity or clinical services levels due to staffing since 2020 and the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union said it had not received complaints about the public maternity ward.

QNMU assistant secretary Grant Burton said the state budget funded an extra 2600 full-time equivalent nurses and midwives this financial year, along with $40 million to the workforce attraction incentive scheme with no reports of workload issues at the hospital.

But Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson, whose electorate covers Cleveland and the hospital precinct, said it was a disgrace that midwifery nurses had been kept guessing about their job security at the hospital.

Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson has called on the state government to guarantee staffing levels at Redland Hospital following the closure of the maternity ward at the neighbouring Mater Private Redland. Picture: Mark Robinson

“No nurse should be kept guessing about whether they have a job or not at Redland Hospital,” he said.

“I’m hoping the maternity services at Redland will not become a re-run of the palliative care services at the hospital which the government quietly tried to move to another hospital but had to stop when I called them out on it.

“Redlands mums and our hardworking nurses deserve more and won’t stand for it,” Mr Robinson said.

State figures published last week showed an extra seven full-time equivalent midwifery staff were employed at the Redland Hospital since 2020, bringing to the total full-time equivalent staff to 63.10.

The figures also revealed temporary contractual staff numbers at Redland Hospital maternity ward had risen by 5.74 full-time equivalents from 2020 to 11.52 this year.

Nurses Professional Association of Queensland president Kara Thomas said there were questions over whether the staffing levels at Redland Hospital were adequate. Picture: NPAQ

Nurses Professional Association of Queensland president Kara Thomas questioned whether staffing levels were adequate at the bayside hospital after the closure of Redlands Private Maternity, one of more than 30 services shut or on bypass across the state.

“The safety of women and their unborn babies is becoming dire in Queensland as maternity services continue to diminish,” Ms Thomas said.

“At a time when peri-natal mortality has reportedly doubled and investigations at Redcliffe Hospital reveal that recommendations from a review have still not been completely implemented, and babies continue to die in questionable circumstances, is the government providing safe and effective care?

“Are staffing levels adequate to meet the increasing demand and provide the care necessary to ensure good outcomes for mothers and babies in Redlands?” Ms Thomas said.