One of Tamworth’s busiest health care programs that helps mothers-to-be throughout their pregnancy could be facing closure.
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As speculation mounts around the future of the Community Midwives Program, The Leader can reveal it is no longer accepting new expectant mothers.
Hunter New England Health has confirmed women already in the program – which ensure that mothers-to-be see the same midwife throughout their pregnancy – will continue to see midwives. However those trying to fall pregnant, or in the early stages of pregnancy, will be unable to access the service.
The Leader has learnt that the service, which mothers have described as invaluable, stopped operations last month, with remaining staff, who have been prevented from speaking to media, given just two weeks notice. Those staff are believed to have been offered midwife positions at the Tamworth Hospital.
Former case load worker with the program, Katie O’Neill, said the shock hiatus would put even more strain on an already overstretched hospital maternity ward.
Mrs O’Neill said the change could have several knock-on effects, with the three current full-time community midwives able to see up to 40 patients each a year. “It has been shown that case-load midwives are the best way to prevent caesarian births,” she said. “If mothers are in a confident head space they are less likely to need chemical forms of pain relief, and then tend to have less interventions, which also saves money.”
The program was started as part of the State Government’s “Towards Normal Births” program, which aimed to lower the “worryingly rapid rise in interventions and caesarian births”.
Hunter New England Health, however, has denied it closing the service, but admitted that it is in a temporary hiatus.
“I want to assure the community that the Community Midwives Program is not closing,” Tamworth Hospital general manager Catharine Death said in a statement on Monday night.
“In the short term, we are unable to accept new women into this program while we recruit to vacant positions. Women who are currently in the program will not be impacted.”
However, Mrs O’Neill, who retired in December, said that “they haven’t advertised positions for the last six months because of a review”.
Ms Death said the majority of babies were born at Tamworth Hospital “with the support of our dedicated doctors and midwives, this service will not change”.