Tasmania's Health Minister has announced an independent investigation into staffing at the Royal Hobart Hospital's maternity unit. It comes after midwives and mothers complained about patient care being compromised by staff shortages. The announcement's been welcomed by the midwives’ union, which says members were distressed by the Department of Health's response -- that it hadn’t found information to corroborate the concerns.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Ever since the nursing and midwifery union raised the alarm about the impact of maternity
00:07staff shortages at the Royal Hobart Hospital, patients and midwives have been contacting
00:13the ABC.
00:14I was told they would break my waters on Monday.
00:17This didn't happen until Tuesday afternoon as there were no staff.
00:21The shift I was on last week, I had 13 women in my care.
00:25Nine of those women had newborn babies that were also in my care.
00:29This morning there are six midwives.
00:31A woman waiting to be induced is having her induction delayed due to the staffing shortages.
00:36Their stories stand in stark contrast to the health department's assurance that there's
00:42an appropriate level of staffing for the majority of shifts.
00:46We've found nothing that corroborates that information that the NMF has provided.
00:50Now the health minister has stepped in.
00:53I can confirm that I will establish an independent inquiry into maternity services at the Royal
00:58Hobart Hospital.
00:59We are concerned about the ongoing disconnect between what our members' experiences are
01:05and what the department are indicating in terms of safe staffing levels.
01:10So we feel that this is a really positive way forward.
01:13The union believes a review will help them establish the facts and more importantly develop
01:19recommendations to address the ongoing issues.
01:23The department has made it very clear that the concerns are serious.
01:29They are continuing to look into that.
01:33But I want a level of assurance from an independent person.
01:38The health minister says he's in close contact with the union and will be consulting them
01:42on the terms of reference and who should be appointed to undertake the investigation.
01:48While the union says its members were distressed by the health department's response, the
01:53health minister has given them hope.
01:55He is equally concerned by the reports and the concerns that our members are raising
02:00and he has absolutely a commitment and investment in ensuring that the review is done appropriately.
02:08The government says the report will be completed as soon as possible.