"Inadequate service resulting in a negative experience"

I recently was an inpatient at Maternity in Bunbury Hospital and essentially was extremely disappointed that I felt the hospital was completely unable to provide the service it states to.

I was in pre-term labour at 35+3 and on transfer to Bunbury Hospital, was reassured that at that gestation I was able to birth in Bunbury, unless complications should occur in which case I would be potentially transferred to Perth. My partner and I were extremely apprehensive about the likely pre-term birth of our baby – we are live approximately 100kms from Bunbury itself and originally had planned to birth at Busselton Health Campus.

The next day, once confirmation that my waters had broken and birth was very likely in the next 48hrs, we were again reassured that we could proceed at Bunbury Hospital and the baby would be able to be cared for by the team in the nursery.

We were then informed late in the afternoon / evening that due to inadequate staffing levels that I would be transferred to Perth that night. This was hugely upsetting for a number of reasons – quite simply, if Bunbury Hospital is not able to provide the adequate Paediatric staffing cover to care for late pre-term babies then I believe women should not be accepted to birth there – I would have far preferred to have been transferred to Perth immediately instead of being under the guise I could birth at Bunbury Hospital. Furthermore, a late-night transfer to Perth was extremely unfair – my understanding of the situation was that this staffing situation had been known since approx. midday yet I did not get transferred until the evening – arriving at the hospital in Perth very late at night. I think it is difficult for anyone who hasn’t been in a similar situation to understand the unbelievable stress this caused my partner and myself.

For me to agree to the transfer the Bunbury Hospital Maternity team made the following guarantees:

1. A milk bank was available at the Perth hospital, which would be extremely helpful for a pre-term baby and assist me in my desire to exclusively breastfeed from birth – we found out once at the hospital in Perth that there is no milk bank there at all.

2. My partner would be able to stay with me throughout my stay at the Perth hospital as we had no accommodation/family/support network in Perth – on my partner’s arrival to Perth at approx. midnight we were informed he was not allowed to stay.

3. The Perth hospital would be informed we needed to see a Social Worker the next day to assist with accommodation / PATS etc – I believe this was not handed over to Perth and we did not see a Social Worker once throughout our stay.

To add unbelievable insult to injury as I was been prepped to leave Bunbury Hospital with the paramedics to be transferred to Perth, the Maternity Ward coordinator suggested I “just” get the Perth hospital to transfer me back the next day once there was more medical Paediatric staff on. I found this to be extremely offensive – what a waste of Ambulance resources, unnecessary increase to my and my partner’s stress levels and poor management from a hospital executive level.

One of WACHS’ values is Equity – I imagine this focuses on ensuring regional and rural (and remote) families have universal access to healthcare. Therefore, I feel the Maternity management team at Bunbury Hospital should be addressing equity – supporting women to birth closer to home, with less stress and reduced intervention.

The individual care we received from Midwives was great - although this individual kindness could not outweigh the collective experience. 

Simply put, I felt the lack of ability to ensure adequate staffing was available at Bunbury Hospital resulted in a cascade which has caused significant trauma (including birth trauma) for myself, my partner and my family. This has significantly impacted my ability to transition to motherhood, my relationship with my partner, my bonding with my newborn baby and my trust in healthcare systems.