Former Bankstown Hospital midwife says maternity staff overworked, understaffed

A FORMER midwife at scandal-hit Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital says maternity staff are “stretched” and aren’t replaced quickly enough to cope with demand.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner fronts the media after a baby died at Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital and another newborn was in a critical condition. Picture: AAP/Dan Himbrechts

• Baby dies, another left brain damaged in oxygen mix-up at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital
• Family of baby who died after oxygen mix-up at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital left devastated
• Claims of Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital fatal gas bungle ‘cover-up’

A FORMER midwife at scandal-hit Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital says maternity staff are “stretched” and aren’t replaced quickly enough to cope with demand.

It comes after revelations a newborn baby died and another was left in a critical condition after nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, was wrongly used instead of oxygen on July 13.

The “devastating error”, only found by a paediatrician on July 21, prompted NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner to launch a full-scale internal investigation, which began on Friday.

The hospital engineer who installed the gas outlets was stood down today.

Youssef and Sonya Ghanem, the parents of baby John who died at Bankstown Hospital after being given nitrous oxide gas instead of oxygen.

A midwife who worked at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital for seven years — who asked not to be named — said midwives in the maternity unit were run off their feet.

“I believe that a major problem is that when midwives are on maternity leave the hospital cannot employ anyone to replace them,” she told The Express.

“The positions are kept on hold. And when they come back they usually come back only two days a week so the other three days cannot even be filled.”

But the midwife warned people not to jump to conclusions and blame maternity staff over the tragic mistake.

Northern Sydney Health District obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Michael Nicholl will investigate the circumstances leading up to the death of baby John, a month after the same error left a newborn girl with suspected brain damage.

The Express contacted Ms Skinner for comment but did not receive a response.

Milperra mum Melanie Dalton gave birth at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital about 6am on June 10.

“We were rushed into the only room left available,” she said. “After speaking to the midwives we were told there had been seven babies born since midnight until 3.45am.”

“There absolutely needs to be more staff. The ladies were flat out and although they were as lovely as could be, they shouldn’t be worked as hard as they are.”

Ms Skinner announced the engineer had been stood down as she handed down findings or an interim report into the fatal bungle.

“It is my belief that BOC Limited, which installed and certified the medical gas outlet, and Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital operating theatres, which was required under Australian standards to check it, will share responsibility for this tragedy,” Ms Skinner said.

NSW/ACT Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes confirmed the hospital’s engineer was a member of the HSU and said the worker only found out he was being stood down in the last 24 hours.

“We were made aware in the last 24 hours that one of our members was involved in this incident and would be the subject of further investigations into the matter,” Mr Hayes said.

“We are offering him legal assistance at the moment and we will be in contact with the Minister’s office regarding the information that is contained within the interim report.

A liquid oxygen bottle at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital. Picture: Ross Schultz