In July 2016 birthing services at Milton Ulladulla Hospital stopped. Mothers and doctors stopped pushing, and the service was scratched from the roster at our small rural hospital.
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Outraged, a community united and demanded better.
“Save our service” was the catch-cry of the people as they marched the hospital grounds and descended on a community meeting.
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) chairman Professor Dennis King and chief executive Margot Mains met with concerned locals, discussed the reasoning behind the decision and pledged to return birthing services “as soon as possible”.
Seven months on and little has changed.
Despite months of meetings, paperwork and committees, a regular birthing service at Milton Ulladulla Hospital will not return until 2018, “at least”.
Two groups were established to oversee the return of services; the Model of Care Committee and the Steering Committee.
The groups comprised of locals, hospital management, doctors, midwives and area health representatives, were created to ensure services returned in a timely manner and for good.
The groups priorities are to establish a level 1 birthing services, followed by a level 2 birthing service.
A statement issued to Milton Ulladulla Times announced the completion of Milton Ulladulla Hospital Level 1 Maternity Model of Care Draft.
The draft will be presented to the ISLHD Board meeting in February for approval, with a proposed start date of March.
Meaning, from March 1 Milton-Ulladulla women will still not be able to birth at the hospital, however they will have access to prenatal care, antenatal care and a seven-day a week midwife.
Work on the level 2 service will not commence until March.
“The Model of Care and Steering Committee's will meet again and continue forward from March 2017 with the Level 2 Maternity Model of Care Draft Policy,” the statement said.
The work needed to take the service to a level 2 is expected to take another six to eight months, meaning a regular birthing service at Milton Ulladulla Hospital does not look likely until at least 2018.
“Our next stage is working on the level 2 which will start when we get ratification of level 1,” committee member Rebecca Cameron said.
“I’d take a conservative stab and say that’s right, we would be looking at 2018 for the first births.”
Dr Keith Allenby medical co-director maternity and women’s health at Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District said the 18-month delay is due to “the complexity of the clinical and organisational arrangements that need to be considered”.
“Development of the framework for the safe provision of level 1 maternity services at Milton Ulladulla Hospital has been the first priority of the Maternity Steering Group and Model of Care Group since their establishment last year,” he said in a statement.
“Once the level 1 framework has been finalised, the next focus of both groups will be to fully explore the reintroduction of level 2 birthing services for Milton Ulladulla Hospital.
“We do not have a timeframe for completion of this process.
“However we do know that it is a much larger piece of work that will take longer than the Level 1 service work, due to the complexity of the clinical and organisational arrangements that need to be considered.”
Rebecca said she has been surprised by the level of work it has taken to get the level 1 service draft completed and believes it will as long for the level 2 service to be established.
“It will take that long at least to get a (level 2) proposal up that is sufficient and safe,” she said.
“We met every Friday, for two hours, for eight months and there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes during that time.
“It will probably take that time again to get the level 2 service off the ground.
“We have that same level of work to do again, but more. Plus we have to consider things like staffing.”
Once the level 2 service is returned Milton Ulladulla Hospital will only be able to cater for low-risk births.
“Even as a level 2 service not all births will be able to done at Milton Ulladulla Hospital,” Rebecca said.
“C-sections and complicated births will still need to be done at Shoalhaven or elsewhere.
“Level 2 births is normal births, with no intervention.”
Rebecca said the committee also believe the true number of births for the region are not being captured in the ISLHD data.
“The local figures don’t reflect the true number of births,” she said.
“ISLHD aren’t capturing all of those numbers so we need to look at Birth, Deaths and Marriages.
“We don’t know the figures are, but a lot of women south of our area, women from the Bawley Point area are delivering at Moruya because it is closer.
“Some are going to Wollongong or Sydney and some even to Goulburn.”
To confidentially contact the group’s community representatives email Sunnee Ord at savematernitymiltonhospital@gmail.com or phone Rebecca Cameron on 0438 603 326.
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