Push for more transparency after shock baby death toll revealed

Calls are growing for clearer data on patient deaths after it was revealed 36 Victorian babies died in five years after failings in their mothers’ care.

The state’s peak doctor group says more information is needed on the 36 infants who died between January 2017 and June 2022. Picture: iStock

There are calls for greater government transparency on patient deaths following revelations dozens of Victorian babies died after failings and missed opportunities in their mothers’ care.

The state’s peak doctor group said more information on the 36 infants who died between January 2017 and June 2022 was needed, while the opposition criticised the state government’s lack of detail less than a decade after the Bacchus Marsh baby scandal.

Watchdog files – obtained under freedom of information laws and published by the Herald Sun on Monday – revealed 55 infants had been seriously harmed after adverse incidents linked to their mother’s care during birth, labour and pregnancy.

The Herald Sun understands authorities did not identify a “collective theme” behind the cases.

While Safer Care Victoria reports the total number of “sentinel events” and selected trends annually, the rising numbers of infant maternity-related events – which the government says reflects improved reporting rates – was not publicly known until now.

Australian Medical Association Victoria president Dr Jill Tomlinson said Victorians “need and deserve transparency” and it was “vital” women receive “the safest possible” care.

Opposition mental health spokeswoman Emma Kealy says the data shows Victoria has ‘the same critical issues when it comes to baby care that we saw a decade ago’. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“This type of data needs to be readily available so that we can have the transparency required to achieve safe healthcare and … identify factors that lead to improvements in maternity care,” she said.

“One instance of harm is one too many.

“Our members frequently raise any concerns they have about safety within the Victorian health care system.”

She said these included staffing and access to appropriate primary and hospital care, and being transparent about these issues would build trust in the system so “women feel safe”.

Victorian Nationals deputy and opposition mental health spokeswoman Emma Kealy said the data showed Victoria had “the same critical issues when it comes to baby care that we saw a decade ago”, when multiple preventable baby deaths at Bacchus Marsh Hospital prompted SCV’s establishment.

“The government promised that they would do everything possible to prevent this from ever happening again, and yet we have bereaved mothers across the state,” she said.

She said it was “essential” the government released “the full data related to these baby deaths” and “were clear” on the issues in our healthcare system and their response.

A government spokeswoman said the data was included in SCV’s annual reporting and their focus was ensuring public and private services acted on recommendations from sentinel event reviews “in real time”.

“We won’t take lectures from the opposition who withheld crucial health data when they were last in government – data that was only released when they left government,” she said.