Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Health
The Tasmanian Government has accepted all recommendations of the Independent Review of Quality, Safety and Management in the North West Maternity Services, which has been publicly released today.
The review makes a number of recommendations for the improvement of maternity services in the North West, and acknowledges that many of the challenges identified in providing maternity services are not unique to the North West of Tasmania, but are shared with other regional communities across the country.
Most significantly, the review recommends all public maternity services in the region come in under the Tasmanian Health Service. This will see inpatient and birthing services provided by the North West Regional Hospital, while ambulatory services will continue to be delivered through outpatient clinics at the Mersey Community Hospital and North West Regional Hospital, and through the home visiting service.
The review notes past decisions made to develop and consolidate public maternity services were valid at the time and remain valid today.
Consolidation of maternity services in the North West by the Tasmanian Government in 2016 was a positive step in improving the quality of maternity services in the region.
The move to all public maternity services coming in under the Tasmanian Health Service will be the next step in improving the service for the North West.
The review also recommends a body of work be undertaken to unify the service and address workplace cultural issues.
Importantly, this review was extended to enable greater opportunity for stakeholder participation, with more than 60 stakeholders being interviewed, including the AMA and ANMF.
The commitment and engagement of clinical staff providing maternity care is highlighted as a significant strength, along with the commitment of staff to provide safe and high-quality care to the community of the North West now and into the future.
Forums have been held with key stakeholders today, including staff to provide information about the review and its recommendations. Importantly, staff have been advised that there are no operational changes occurring to services today – a transition plan and team will now be formed with further communications on next steps to follow.
A plan is being developed to support implementation of the recommendations, and stakeholders, including staff, will be engaged in this process.
We are confident the implementation of the recommendations of the review will further strengthen maternity services for the North West community.
The independent review was conducted by Dr Jo Burnand, a medical consultant with extensive medical management experience, working across all levels of the public health sector in NSW and the ACT, including metropolitan, regional and rural facilities.
The review report is available at https://www.health.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/442364/Attach_1_Final_Report_-_IRQSMNWM_260821.pdf
