South Australia’s ‘one-team, one-site’ trial will see birthing services alternate between Jamestown and Crystal Brook hospitals. Not everyone is happy.
Birthing services have only recently been restored to the regional South Australian towns of Crystal Brook and Jamestown – but that return may end up being fleeting, as local GPs warn about unintended consequences.
SA Health was forced to pause birthing services at both hospitals in June due to a “workforce shortage” related to midwifery staff, with women redirected to the Port Pirie Regional Health Service, up to 45 minutes’ drive away.
Services ultimately resumed as normal from August. But from December, the plan was to pilot a “one-team, one-site” model, where the designated birthing suite alternated between Jamestown and Crystal Brook in one- or two-month blocks.
It has already begun on a slightly smaller scale, applying only to weekend births.
State shadow health minister Jack Batty likened the trial to a “timeshare model”, referencing a letter to health minister Blair Boyer signed by four local GPs.
According to Mr Batty, the letter said that because the model effectively closes one maternity unit every few months, it increases the risk of errors in clinical handover and unintentional gaps.
In turn, these are associated with serious preventable medical errors.
“Mums in the Mid North shouldn’t have to check the calendar to work out whether their local hospital is delivering babies that week,” Mr Batty said.
“Labor’s answer to pressure on regional maternity services is some sort of timeshare arrangement that local doctors are warning is unsafe and unsustainable.”
He called on Mr Boyer to work with doctors to create a model which would deliver reliable maternity care closer to home for patients.
Tom Venning, the federal MP for Grey – the electorate covering the towns of Crystal Brook, Jamestown and Port Pirie – claimed in parliament this week that doctors themselves only had two days’ notice before the changes were implemented.
“Now a doctor … can’t service his community because he is on call for births through this new trial,” Mr Venning said.
“They are going to have to redo their whole business model because of these changes.”
Related
Mr Venning claimed the original model was “already functioning” and said that no one would expect a regional emergency department to operate on a rotating schedule.
“There are 60 patients a year across Jamestown and Crystal Brook who need maternity services,” the MP said.
“Yet these changes are removing our regional GPs from primary care, putting them at risk.
“The community is rightly worried. They are frightened about what this means for their access to healthcare.
“So, Speaker, Labor’s answer to a shortage of midwives is to share the shortage and call it a service while risking ED and primary care.
“The government cannot call the service sustainable simply because it takes turns being available.”
