❓ The Minister addresses concerns about the potential closure of Bentley Hospital's maternity services following the opening of Fiona Stanley Hospital. A decision will be made after assessing service demand post-FSH opening, with potential reinvestment if demand remains high.
AnsweredQoN 25Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BENTLEY HOSPITAL — MATERNITY
SERVICES
25. Ms A.R. MITCHELL to the Minister for Health:
I am well aware that there has been some scaremongering about
the discontinuation of maternity services at Bentley Hospital. Can the minister
please provide an update on the provision of services at this hospital?
SERVICES
25. Ms A.R. MITCHELL to the Minister for Health:
I am well aware that there has been some scaremongering about
the discontinuation of maternity services at Bentley Hospital. Can the minister
please provide an update on the provision of services at this hospital?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. I am just looking for
the date, but I cannot find it. A few weeks ago I did an interview on ABC radio
with Geoff Hutchison, and during that interview I committed to go down to
Bentley Hospital to look at the services provided there, particularly obstetric
services. I see that Alicia is in the gallery, so she can pass on the
information to Geoff that I have been there—I went there today—and
looked at the services being provided at the hospital. There is no question
that some degree of upgrade of that obstetric facility is needed, so we will be
going through, getting a report done and working out what needs to be done.
However, what is clear is that there is confusion around what is going to
happen to that maternity service once Fiona Stanley Hospital opens. So I will
go through that again to make the intentions of this government very clear.
Under the previous government, when Hon Jim McGinty was the
minister, he made the decision that when Fiona Stanley Hospital was built, the
Bentley Hospital obstetric service would close and those services would be
provided by the new Fiona Stanley Hospital. In opposition, we had no reason
whatsoever to doubt that that was good policy. We totally disagreed with what
he was going to do with obstetric services at Osborne Park Hospital and
campaigned to keep them, and he subsequently changed his mind and said he would
keep those. However, we were in agreement about the potential closure of
Bentley obstetric services. As we moved forward, we talked a lot to the local
community, particularly to Steve Irons, as the local federal member and the
local mayor, and there was strong support for continuing to retain that
hospital in the future. The risk in that is that a report has been done by a
prominent obstetrician that lists about 1 000 deliveries a year as the ideal
size for an obstetric service, which is about what is done at Osborne Park
Hospital. Currently at Bentley Hospital it is about 890, which is marginally
under that level. However, it is expected that when Fiona Stanley Hospital
opens, that service will not be required. The commitment that we gave, I think,
a year or 18 months ago, which seems to be lost in the translation somewhere,
is that we will now wait and see and reconsider once Fiona Stanley Hospital is
open. So we will wait until early 2014 when Fiona Stanley Hospital opens. Given
that there are only 20 obstetric beds that we have not changed from the Labor
Party plan at that site and that Kaleeya is proposed to be closed as an
obstetric service, we will wait and see what happens. People will vote with
their feet. I have said that if they continue to support the Bentley obstetric
service and if the number is getting close to the 1 000 that are needed, we
will reconsider and reinvest whatever dollars are required to bring that up to
a high-quality obstetric service. It is silly for us to go and spend millions
of dollars there now, with only two years to that decision. However, in the
meantime, we will do some work to freshen up the appearance of that obstetric
unit and make sure that the people going there now—the nearly 900 of
them who go there during a year for their deliveries—have a quality
level of service. Once again, I want to make that public. Bentley obstetric
service will not definitely close when Fiona Stanley obstetric service opens.
the date, but I cannot find it. A few weeks ago I did an interview on ABC radio
with Geoff Hutchison, and during that interview I committed to go down to
Bentley Hospital to look at the services provided there, particularly obstetric
services. I see that Alicia is in the gallery, so she can pass on the
information to Geoff that I have been there—I went there today—and
looked at the services being provided at the hospital. There is no question
that some degree of upgrade of that obstetric facility is needed, so we will be
going through, getting a report done and working out what needs to be done.
However, what is clear is that there is confusion around what is going to
happen to that maternity service once Fiona Stanley Hospital opens. So I will
go through that again to make the intentions of this government very clear.
Under the previous government, when Hon Jim McGinty was the
minister, he made the decision that when Fiona Stanley Hospital was built, the
Bentley Hospital obstetric service would close and those services would be
provided by the new Fiona Stanley Hospital. In opposition, we had no reason
whatsoever to doubt that that was good policy. We totally disagreed with what
he was going to do with obstetric services at Osborne Park Hospital and
campaigned to keep them, and he subsequently changed his mind and said he would
keep those. However, we were in agreement about the potential closure of
Bentley obstetric services. As we moved forward, we talked a lot to the local
community, particularly to Steve Irons, as the local federal member and the
local mayor, and there was strong support for continuing to retain that
hospital in the future. The risk in that is that a report has been done by a
prominent obstetrician that lists about 1 000 deliveries a year as the ideal
size for an obstetric service, which is about what is done at Osborne Park
Hospital. Currently at Bentley Hospital it is about 890, which is marginally
under that level. However, it is expected that when Fiona Stanley Hospital
opens, that service will not be required. The commitment that we gave, I think,
a year or 18 months ago, which seems to be lost in the translation somewhere,
is that we will now wait and see and reconsider once Fiona Stanley Hospital is
open. So we will wait until early 2014 when Fiona Stanley Hospital opens. Given
that there are only 20 obstetric beds that we have not changed from the Labor
Party plan at that site and that Kaleeya is proposed to be closed as an
obstetric service, we will wait and see what happens. People will vote with
their feet. I have said that if they continue to support the Bentley obstetric
service and if the number is getting close to the 1 000 that are needed, we
will reconsider and reinvest whatever dollars are required to bring that up to
a high-quality obstetric service. It is silly for us to go and spend millions
of dollars there now, with only two years to that decision. However, in the
meantime, we will do some work to freshen up the appearance of that obstetric
unit and make sure that the people going there now—the nearly 900 of
them who go there during a year for their deliveries—have a quality
level of service. Once again, I want to make that public. Bentley obstetric
service will not definitely close when Fiona Stanley obstetric service opens.
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