Healthscope conditionally delays closure of Darwin private maternity services for seven weeks
The shut down of maternity services at the Northern Territory’s only private medical ward has been delayed, but down south, mums still get longer. Find out why.
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Darwin Private Hospital owner Healthscope has responded to community outrage and conditionally extended the operation of its maternity service at the facility until June 6.
Originally expected to end on April 17, the company appears to have responded to criticism that not enough time had been given to expectant mums and families to prepare alternative arrangements during the remainder of the pregnancy.
Healthscope announced last Friday it would cease maternity services at Darwin Private Hospital in April, meaning mums and families had little more than two months notice to secure alternative arrangements.
The revised date for the shutdown of Darwin Private Hospital’s services is still more than two months short of that offered to expectant mums at Healthscope’s Hobart Private Hospital’s maternity unit, which is set to cease services on August 20.
Healthscope’s Brisbane-based Northern Territory manager Tim Daniel said on Thursday the final inpatient booking for birthing services, originally set for April 10, would now cease on May 31.
He said the extension was “dependent” on accessing enough medical professionals to continue the service until that date.
“This announcement is an outcome of our consultation process over the past week with our
people, our obstetricians and our patients,” he said.
“The new proposed closure date of June 6 will see maternity services at the hospital continue for a further seven weeks from what was originally proposed, and will allow more expecting parents to have their birth at Darwin Private.” Mr Daniel said.
“This extension of the service is dependent on our ability to access the nurses, midwives and
specialists we’ll need to safely maintain the service, and we’ll work closely with our clinicians
to ensure the service is maintained at our usual high standard of care during this time.
“We’re communicating with all our booked maternity patients to advise them of the extension
to our service.
“We’ll continue to support parents whose births are scheduled after this date, helping facilitate their transition to one of the alternate private maternity care models being developed by NT Health,” Mr Daniel said.
No explanation was offered why Darwin’s service was shutting two months ahead of Hobart.
Health Minister Steve Edgington said 45 out of 114 expectant mothers would be impacted by the closure of Darwin Private’s Jacana Ward, where the maternity ward is located.
He called on Healthscope to engage with impacted patients.
“Right from the very start we’ve made it clear that Healthscope has a responsibility to keep those clients informed,” he said.
“Those expectant mothers and their families should be kept informed of what Healthscope’s decisions are.
Healthscope did not return calls on Thursday to determine how many of the 45 pregnancies would be completed by the June 6 closure.
In response to last week’s Healthscope shutdown, the Territory Government announced a package that would see private insurers provide options for mums and families including the option of staying in a boutique Darwin hotel with their family with 24/7 maternity support and access to restaurants and a kingsize bed or returning home sooner with full-time maternity support.
Mr Edgington said the rollout of the alternative services was “well advanced”.