St John of God Subiaco Hospital has scrapped its plans for a family birthing centre, in what is described as another blow to maternity services in Perth.
Stage three of the $311 million expansion of the hospital is set to progress to tender soon but will no longer included what was promised to be a “world-class mother and baby centre”.
Chief executive Tina Chinery said the original plans had been “thoughtfully adjusted to optimise the value that can be delivered”.
In a statement provided to Medical Forum she said: “The clinical building will be two storeys less than the original eight storey design and will no longer include a family birthing centre.”
National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NASOG) WA representative Dr Hannah Sylvester told Medical Forum the expanded services, which she understood to be a birthing and neonatal unit across two floors, would have catered for families choosing to birth in the private system.
“Even with the two obstetricians that have recently left (SJOG Subiaco Hospital), there’s people there picking up those numbers, there’s no change to the birthing numbers, and the demand for private obstetrics is going up significantly because of Mt Lawley, Geraldton and Bunbury all closing,” she said.
Dr Sylvester, an obstetrician at St John of God Murdoch, added: “A significant proportion of my patients drive from Bunbury, Esperance, Albany, the whole Wheatbelt and Goldfields to come here to birth in Murdoch, because there isn’t anywhere else.
“It’s incredibly clear that the problem lies within the funding from the private health insurers.”
The issue of private health insurance models was reported on by Medical Forum last month, with some raising concerns that private maternity services could not continue without a change in funding.
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St John of God Subiaco Hospital experienced a 52% increase in births in 2024 compared to the previous year.
When the closure of maternity services in Mount Lawley was announced in 2023, St John of God Health Care chief executive Bryan Pyne said maternity services would transfer to Subiaco under what was branded a “new maternity model of care for Perth”.
At the time he said: “St John of God Subiaco Hospital has the capacity to provide these services and is well progressed with the planning to deliver a new eight-storey clinical facility that will include a world-class mother and baby centre.”
Ms Chinery said while it was disappointing that the initial plans for maternity within the hospital were no longer going ahead, she was confident the needs of maternity patients would be met.
She said the decision not to include the mother and baby centre was made with consideration of the maternity infrastructure already available to patients on the hospital campus and the ability to expand on that in the future.
“We will, however, continue to invest in and refurbish our existing maternity and newborn facilities to maintain the highest standard of safe clinical care and remain a centre of maternity excellence,” she said.
“Women’s health is a core strategic priority for our hospital and the broader St John of God Health Care group.”
Ms Chinery did not say what the proposed capacity of the centre had been.
St John of God Subiaco did not respond to questions from Medical Forum on whether private maternity services were becoming financially unviable.
In recent years St John of God Heath Care ceased delivering maternity services at its Mount Lawley and Bunbury hospitals.
RELATED: Shock maternity closure at SJOG Mt Lawley
When asked if it had plans to close any other of its maternity units in WA within the next year, Ms Chinery said there were no plans for closures.
She told Medical Forum the hospital’s midwifery team had been expanded by 64% since 2023.
“This expansion ensures we can continue to deliver safe, high-quality maternity services to the families we serve,” Ms Chinery said.
“We will continue to align our workforce to meet future needs. In addition, the current block where our maternity services are delivered will be refreshed and new areas repurposed to ensure we can meet growing demand into the future.”
St John of God Health Care has invested more than $280 million in the first two stages of the major redevelopment project, with stage two understood to be on-track for completion in 2026.
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