The Tasmanian Government has announced the appointment of an independent expert to lead the rapid independent investigation into maternity services at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH).
Midwife, nurse and health consultant Amanda Singleton has extensive experience, including in the governance and management of maternity services in both rural and metropolitan settings. She also has regulatory experience as former Chairperson of the Victorian Board of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA).
Ms Singleton’s appointment to lead the rapid investigation of maternity services at the RHH followed concerns raised by the ANMF Tasmanian Branch and past and current staff over dire staffing levels they report has led to adverse health outcomes for women and babies.
The government was compelled to launch an independent investigation as it had been unable to corroborate claims made by the union and its members, said Tasmanian Health Minister Guy Barnett.
The ANMF Tasmanian Branch expressed dismayed by the Department’s response in August after it first raised members’ concerns.
“Our members are unequivocal that there are staffing issues and safety concerns that are putting women and babies at risk.
“Our midwifery members work on this unit 24/7 and have first have experience of staffing issues and the challenges that this presents,” said ANMF Tasmanian Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd.
“The fact that the Department has not managed to accurately ascertain the concerns and clear evidence of safety risks is a further indictment on a broken and disconnected health system.”
Members have reported critical staffing levels at times on RHH’s maternity unit. This includes some night shifts running with three midwives instead of the required nine. Patient ratios had reached 1:13 plus eight babies per midwife on late shifts. In addition, six women admitted for induction were still waiting over a weekend due to insufficient staff to commence the inductions.
The ANMF Tasmanian Branch wrote to the Executive Director of Nursing and Chief Executive of the RHH in late August, seeking urgent action on staffing issues. Midwives had repeatedly escalated their concerns to internal management and been ignored, Ms Shepherd said.
“The need for safe and quality care delivery for women and their babies in the ante-natal, intrapartum and post-natal period cannot be overstated and the devastating lifelong health impacts on women, their babies and their families if quality care is not provided or worse results in adverse outcomes can be catastrophic.”
The ANMF Tasmanian Branch welcomed the rapid investigation and the government’s commitment to work with the ANMF on its terms of reference.
ANMF Tasmanian Branch members held a range of stop work meetings across the state last week to protest against unsafe workloads.
