"A baby born at Broome Hospital in the far north of Western australia"

We write to thank and acknowledge the outstanding teamwork of your staff in the Maternity Unit at Broome Hospital in the far north of Western Australia.

Our grandchild was born at the Broome Hospital recently.

We wish to commend the Maternity team and in particular the midwives who visited the young parents in their home during the weeks preceding this precious baby’s arrival and indeed since the family has returned home. We first had the privilege of meeting the midwife who had been assigned to care for our family during her visit in the last week of the pregnancy just after our arrival in Broome, she has been a wonderful ambassador for the Broome Midwifery program and we commend her as an excellent staff member.

We were very impressed with the entire midwifery team’s thoroughness, reassurance and professionalism. After reviewing our daughter’s notes the midwife thoughtfully discussed several matters that had been raised by the family and undertook to follow up some questions with an obstetrician. A couple of days later, that conversation resulted in a consultation with the obstetrician plus the midwife and a more extensive review as well as further scans.

As the team grew and broadened we were increasingly impressed with the consideration, kindness and care that new parents received from the growing number of people who brought such a variety of skills and expertise to the task of bringing this precious child safely into the world. The level of communication of information and options given to the parents was amazing and empowered them to take ownership of decisions being made with a high level of confidence.

In the end the babe was delivered by caesarean section which proved to have been very wise and bub's early issue with low blood sugars was brilliantly monitored and managed by your staff.

As we started to visit our grandchild and mother in the maternity ward in the days following the birth we were constantly impressed by the patience and gentle calmness with which staff supported them and encouraged them through some early challenges. We were delighted with the generous manner in which Dad was included and involved and tutored in baby's care and we greatly admired the whole team of people who so cheerfully popped in and out of the ward attending to all the minutiae of daily tasks that help to keep your complex facility functioning.

We make these observations with some degree of authority having observed the experiences of our elder daughter and our daughter-in-law who have each given birth within the last eighteen months. Each of the others was attended by experienced obstetricians and delivered their babies in private hospitals in Perth. Whilst the physical environments in which these other two grandchildren were born may have been somewhat more salubrious than Broome Hospital the inclusivity, communication, kindness, compassion and medical care was not even in the same league as that which surrounded the family in Broome.

Through our own professional experience both of us know that excellence in the delivery of service in any field is only possible where there is supportive leadership at a managerial level. Therefore, we commend the Broome Health system’s leaders who have empowered their Maternity Team to develop a superbly responsive and flexible service that is miraculously able to perform so magnificently within what we know to be the usually very structured bureaucracy of the Australian Health System!

Congratulations all round and with our sincere and admiring appreciation.