Maternity services at Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital will continue and be expanded as the two towns grow.
The Health Department’s service performance and programs deputy secretary Frances Diver last week quashed rumours that the state government planned to pull the plug on the beleaguered Bacchus Marsh hospital, amid investigations into the deaths of seven newborns in 2013 and 2014.
“There are absolutely no plans to close the hospital in Bacchus Marsh,” Ms Diver said.
“To meet the needs of the broader community growing in Bacchus Marsh and Melton, we need to grow services – both hospital-based and community-based.
“So my expectation is that services will grow across both towns.”
Speaking at last week’s annual meeting of Djerriwarrh Health Services, which runs the hospital, Dr John Ballard “sincerely apologised” to the women and their families who had lost babies in “avoidable” circumstances.
Dr Ballard, who was appointed hospital administrator after its board was sacked last month, sought to reassure people that “necessary provisions” had been put in place to ensure the safety of maternity services.
Djerriwarrh Health Services implemented six of Professor Euan Wallace’s recommendations after his investigation into the hospital’s maternity services earlier this year. Another four recommendations are still being introduced.
Improved governance
Dr Ballard said the health service had new clinical governance systems, extra support and training for staff, and new resources, including centralised fetal monitoring systems as recommended by Professor Wallace.
“Sound clinical governance is the basis for safe, quality care,” Dr Ballard said.
“Deficits in clinical governance are a key contributor to what occurred in maternity services at the hospital here in Bacchus Marsh.
“There is no one person who is the common denominator in all of these cases.
“Blaming anyone or anything will not change the past; we must focus on the future by addressing the systemic issues at Djerriwarrh.”
Djerriwarrh Health Services chief executive Andrew Freeman said patient numbers at the hospital’s maternity ward had decreased, but the hospital was committed to restoring community trust.
“We’ve gone through an awfully, awfully difficult period … and we need to gain the trust of the community again,” he said.
He said, a new quality and safety committee will report back to the board in a bid to “increase accountability and transparency”.
