Osborne Park Hospital expansion prompts questions on women’s safety

As construction gets underway on the Osborne Park Hospital expansion serious concerns have been raised about the safety of people giving birth there.

AMA (WA) President Dr Kyle Hoath has warned modern obstetric units were no longer built as they are at hospital, without integrated services, and that the current configuration, which was being extended on, was cause for concern.

The hospital’s obstetric unit does not have direct access to emergency, surgical and adult medical capability. The Association has said this puts mothers at a much higher risk than those who birth in other hospitals anywhere in Australia.

Dr Hoath said clinicians had repeatedly asked the Department of Health to identify any Australian or international maternity service that operated safely with the proposed OPH configuration. According to Dr Hoath, none exist.

“Modern obstetric units are built only with direct access to emergency, surgical and adult medical capability,” he said.

Earlier this month, the state government announced construction had started on the hospital expansion, which ministers have described as a key part of the $1.8 billion New Women and Babies Hospital Project.

The government said the six-storey building would expand women and newborn inpatient facilities to provide for double the number of births currently recorded at the hospital.

While the AMA (WA) welcomed the increase in maternity capacity it said the project did not address safety, configuration, and governance of metropolitan maternity and newborn services.

It warned women who give birth at the hospital who experience miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, severe haemorrhage, pelvic pain or other urgent complications would have no local ED‑supported pathway under the current plan.

Some members had warned the Osborne Park Hospital expansion replicated an outdated model that was being replaced elsewhere.

One of the reasons given for replacing the ageing King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) and relocating services to the new Women and Babies Hospital in the Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) precinct was its lack of adjacent adult specialty services.

In 2023 former Health Minister Amber Jade Sanderson said a key consideration of the co-location of the Women's and Babies Hospital with a tertiary hospital was to "ensure that our sickest women have access to a state-of-the-art ICU".

The Association also raised concerns about fragmentation as maternity services look to be split over three health providers - South Metropolitan Health Service, North Metropolitan Health Service, and CAHS.

Dr Hoath said the model risked inconsistent systems and gaps in responsibility - an issue that has been repeatedly raised about the location of the new Women and Babies Hospital at FSH.

"Transferring high‑acuity obstetric emergencies long distances is not consistent with world‑class practice,” Dr Hoath said.

"We still have no solution for high-risk neonates who need immediate care at Perth Children’s Hospital.”

Speaking to Medical Forum, obstetrician Vinay Rane agreed that maternity units should consistently operate with direct access to emergency, surgical and adult medical services to reduce potential risks to mothers giving birth.

“Low-risk patients can deteriorate rapidly and unpredictably. The greatest risk factor for adverse maternity outcomes remains having no risk factors,” he said.

“As a specialist in women's healthcare, I am always going to be in favour of more maternity beds and services. That said, I have always strongly believed pregnant women deserve whole-body care and moreover that the hospital around them needs to reflect that.

It comes at a time when maternity services in the state are under increased scrutiny. Earlier this year the health department was forced to make changes to the way maternity wards handle capacity issues are a mother gave birth on the Kwinana Freeway after being turned away from a hospital.

The state government did not provide a comment.