Pioneering birth centre in Launceston to close after 35 years
There are fears unsafe home births will become more common after the closure of a Tasmanian birthing centre set up to offer women a safe alternative to hospital.
Tasmania
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THERE are fears unsafe home births will become more common after the closure of a birthing centre set up to offer women a safe alternative to hospital.
The Launceston Birth Centre has announced it will close its doors after 35 years, following a prolonged struggle to secure a permanent registered midwife.
Anna Holloway, who helped mothers give birth through the centre until her retirement three years ago, said she believed the number of pregnant women wanting natural births was increasing.
But the centre has found it increasingly difficult to recruit a midwife, which Ms Holloway attributed to an increase in regulatory requirements for those wanting to practice privately and participate in home births.
“Certainly up until three years ago, I was doing 35 (births) a year,” Ms Holloway said.
“A lot of people just want to be at home; they just want to be comfortable.
“I’ve had a lot of women say, after giving birth, ‘I don’t know how anyone does it in a hospital’.”
Margaret Dingemanse, a Launceston General Hospital midwife who has volunteered at the birth centre, said insurance and training requirements for those wanting to practice privately in home births were prohibitive.
“I would have to go back to uni, basically, and I’m not really interested (in further study) because I’m busy with my own family,” she said.
Launceston Birth Centre treasurer Sarah Haberle, who gave birth to her own three children at the centre, said choice was important for women. Some have travelled from as far as the Southern Midlands and even the mainland to give birth there.
Ms Dingemanse said, while younger midwives found it difficult to qualify for private practice, she was confident a similar centre could reopen once midwife numbers increased.
Jean Vasic, who was involved with the Launceston Birth Centre at its inception, said it had made giving birth safer in northern Tasmania.
She said the centre was established to address concerns about unsafe home births, and that it received support from Launceston General Hospital at the time.
“We’ve never had a problem safety-wise because it’s one-on-one and we don’t leave our mothers at all through labour, and we build up a relationship and get to know them over six or nine months before,” Ms Vasic said.
Birthing centres cater for women with low-risk pregnancies and are considered more homelike than hospitals.
The Launceston centre, located next to the LGH, had a focus on natural births.
“The government would save a lot of money if they had a service like this in Launceston,” Ms Vasic said.
“We were the first independent birth centre in Australia and we got calls from all over Australia wanting to know how we started and why.”
Launceston General Hospital declined to comment.
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