Calvary is expecting to deliver up to 600 more babies each year after becoming southern Tasmania’s only private maternity provider, following the closure of Hobart Private Hospital’s maternity unit last week.
Hobart Private, which welcomed about 500 babies annually, delivered its last birth due to an ongoing shortage of midwives, despite extensive recruitment efforts.
Calvary’s Saman Borazjani said the Lenah Valley hospital is expecting to grow from around 300 births a year to potentially 800–900 – nearly tripling its current workload.
“The capacity with bed numbers has always been there for us to do around 800 births a year,” Borazjani told ABC Radio.
“Calvary used to deliver pretty high numbers going back quite a few years ago.”
Around 70–80% of midwives from Hobart Private’s now-closed unit have joined Calvary, with more staff recruited from across Tasmania and interstate.
Four or five overseas midwives are also set to arrive in the next six months.
Emily Sheppard from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said the changeover had been carefully planned since October last year.
The federal government has provided $6 million for specialised maternity equipment to help meet the expected surge in demand.
“Obviously, our members have been extremely concerned about the limiting of choice for women for birthing in the south of the state,” Sheppard said.
“I think some of those challenges will now begin to be seen as women have to make that choice between either a single private provider being Calvary or the public health system.”
To handle the extra patients, Calvary is upgrading its facilities and has reopened a fifth birth suite that had been sitting idle.
Borazjani acknowledged the financial pressures facing private maternity providers but said Calvary’s non-profit status offered some stability.
“Maternity services at Calvary have been running for over 80 years successfully and viably. So we hope to continue that trend moving forward.”
