Mother load crisis of having too few midwives
Stressed out midwives are leaving understaffed maternity units as NSW hospitals scramble to make up the numbers with nursing staff and undergraduate students.
NSW
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NEW mums are being kicked out of hospitals sooner than they should because of a severe lack of staff — with some facilities almost one quarter short on midwives.
“The pressure and what is expected to be done is unbelievable, not to mention unsafe,” one midwife told a powerful parliamentary committee, in documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
Another said mums were “not getting good care … we have poor breastfeeding rates as women are not supported”. And another said that “women are sent home early”.
Blacktown Hospital has 23 permanent midwifery positions vacant out of 98. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association said “significant shortages” across the state as of December included 47 full-time-equivalent vacancies at Westmead Hospital, 13 at Royal North Shore and 10.9 in Wollongong.
In the Association’s submission to the inquiry into maternity health, general secretary Brett Holmes warned mums and babies were “not receiving appropriate, safe care” because “staff who are not midwives are working in maternity units”. He said some new mums could be sent home within 48 hours but only if they were getting daily follow-up care — and that wasn’t happening.
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Frontline staff vented their frustration via a survey, citing examples of how workloads were often doubled when unqualified staff — including students — were called in to plug gaps but required supervision from already stretched staff. “We have a lot of students … We have a lot of sick women needing nursing care so it makes it difficult,” one said.
NSW Health rejected claims of a “significant shortage” but admitted there were “workforce challenges in some districts” because of population growth.
A spokesman said the Association’s figures were not “permanent” vacancies and included “casual, part-time and agency” employees, which meant figures fluctuated.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard has ordered NSW Health meet with the union.
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“If there is evidence of shortages, they will be addressed,” he said, noting the government had added 6700 new nurses and midwives since it was elected and a record number of graduates had recently joined the nursing workforce.
“When vacancies arise … local health districts know they have to advertise as quickly as possible to get new staff.”
Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord said there were hundreds of nursing vacancies on the government’s jobs website: “There should be no excuse for failing to fill nurse and midwife positions.”