2015-09-16
Speech in Parliament, in relation to a motion for inquiry into maternity care in Victoria: This is incredibly important work that needs to be done. My only concern is, as Ms Patten has just indicated, the timing and the resources for the committee. We have clearly seen the upper house committees not being properly resourced, and I hope this joint committee will be properly endorsed to do what is an important piece of work.
Over the last eight years or so the Greens and I have done a great deal of work around a number of the issues that Dr Carling-Jenkins wants the committee to inquire into. I will go through a few of those. The perinatal emotional health program that runs at Sunshine Hospital, which Dr Carling-Jenkins mentioned, has been defunded.
This program enabled routine mental health screening of pregnant women to increase early detection and provide support and treatment for those experiencing feelings such as sadness and anxiety during pregnancy and early parenthood. This was an extremely successful program which identified 403 women who required support and help to cope. The fact that 18 per cent of all pregnant women who used the maternity services at Sunshine Hospital during the trial period means that over 400 women who might otherwise have suffered for far too long before receiving support, or who may have received no support otherwise, have been helped, and that those women and their children have not been put at such great risk.
The program has enabled women to get the support they need before their depression and anxiety becomes a much bigger problem or spirals. Unfortunately the funding for this trial program is now coming to an end. The federal government will not re-fund it, and unfortunately at this stage the state government has not taken up the urgent need for the funding of the program.
We all know that for far too long the prevalence of perinatal depression has not been properly recognised. As a result, there has been far too little investment in early detection and treatment of perinatal depression and anxiety. Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia, known as PANDA, provides a national hotline, but it runs on an absolute shoestring budget. There are few other services or programs that specifically address this area. The particular thing about PANDA and other similar organisations is that their volunteers are women who have been through this condition, so they actually know what it feels like. I am told by women who have used the service that that has made a massive difference. The perinatal emotional health program provided women with health care for their minds as well as their bodies during a huge life change, but unfortunately it is now gone. I welcome more investigation into this area especially.
We know that there have been chronic shortages in neonatal intensive care in Victoria for many years. Every now and again there is a story in the paper about a baby that has had to be flown to Adelaide or Sydney because there are simply not enough beds in Victoria. We also know that these beds are extremely expensive to run, but the separation between parents and a baby during this critical time cannot be overemphasised, and we absolutely must deal with the issue of neonatal cots. If babies have to be moved from hospital to hospital, and often interstate, we must put ourselves in the place of the parents of those babies. They may not be able to see their baby because they have other children or work commitments or because of the costs of travelling interstate, not just of the air fares but the hotels et cetera, which are often be well beyond what a family can manage.
The Andrews government committed to investing in more cots and neonatal intensive care, but I am not totally convinced we have enough of these cots to deal with this problem, so, again, further investigations in this area are most welcome.
Access to maternity services for antenatal labour, birth and postnatal care are not equitable. There are disparities in access to maternity care, particularly in rural and regional areas and especially in the outer suburbs of my electorate, as Dr Carling-Jenkins has already indicated. When you look at the number of births in Werribee—60 to 80 a week—it is hard to fathom how any hospital can keep up. There is also a problem for high-risk pregnancies. How are these being dealt with? Are women able to go to a hospital near home rather than having to be transferred to the Royal Women’s Hospital? Further attention needs to be given to this area, especially to how rural women are supported. We definitely need to look at the need for greater travel allowances or whether some regional cities are becoming large enough to offer more specialised care.
All these issues mean that there are out-of-pocket expenses for a family. It is about someone having to be in hospital for several months, whether there are children at home and how all of that is managed. It can be quite difficult. The issues around access for regional and outer suburban women are absolutely critical.
For many years the Greens have campaigned on providing more choices to women in the model of care they receive during pregnancy, especially in relation to access to midwife-led care. There are still a number of hospitals that do not provide midwife-led care options and, where they do, the places are quite limited. There is also limited access to public homebirth services and to birth centres. I have to say that, from everything I know about the program that runs out of Sunshine, people think it is just fantastic, but it needs a lot more expansion.
Of course there is always forward planning that has been identified in Auditor-General’s reports and government reports about the kinds of services that are needed, because we really have been running behind in relation to maternity services in Victoria over the past decade. An example of this is the situation we had for quite some time at Sunshine Hospital, where women were delivering quite regularly in the emergency room. The hospital and the government did a number of things to alleviate this, and I give credit to the government for building the new wing at Sunshine Hospital. It is extremely appropriate that it has been named after Joan Kirner. This will do a lot to assist, but unfortunately it is probably only just going to do catch-up, and we need to be planning for what is going to be happening in the future, especially as these areas are expanding so dramatically.
All these issues are currently known to the government, and I believe the Minister for Health has a real understanding of it and has shown a real commitment to it, but I think the work of the committee can bring all the players together and show exactly what is needed and how it is needed. Having read a number of reports from a number of committees in the past, I know they can shed real light on innovative ways to manage all these issues. For all those reasons, the Greens will be supporting this referral.