SW mum starts petition for new Bunbury birthing centre as St John of God hospital closes maternity ward

A South West mum is pushing for more choice for birthing mums in the region as the region’s St John of God hospital maternity ward officially closed on Tuesday. The ward’s final days followed the May announcement to close the ward which saw nearly 300 babies born each year — a figure down 30 per cent from five years prior. Now women in the South West are left with few choices on where they can give birth with only the public Bunbury Regional Hospital and Busselton Medical Campus offering maternity services. For private care moving forward, expectant mums will need to make the minimum two-hour drive up to Perth. Now Brunswick-based mother-of-four Danielle Gould is looking to put pressure on the State and Federal governments to buck the trend of reducing maternity services in the regions. Mrs Gould used the St John of God Bunbury ward for her first two births before opting for a home birth for her third and fourth. She said while the petition to start a midwifery-led birthing centre in Bunbury was independent of the SJOG closure, women deserved to have choice when deciding how and where to give birth. “I was quite shocked when I heard that they were closing it down because I thought that it was a much loved service for women who wanted to choose that option of giving birth (privately),” she said Mrs Gould said a birthing centre would allow women to experience “home-birth” like conditions while being cared for by midwives. She emphasised every woman deserved to have their needs met in a safe, but holistic way. “With a birthing centre and specifically a standalone birthing centre, it’s quite different from that hospital setting,” she said. “You’re going there and they make the rooms more homely, the lighting is often different, they also have different tools and things that you can use — it’s more about promoting the most natural physiological birth that you could. “Women could walk freely around, they could even have outside areas where women can go outside. At the moment ... in the maternity ward you can’t even open a window to let fresh air in.” Mrs Gould admitted she didn’t know the cost of such a project but was adamant a non-hospital setting would attract staff who were staying away from working in the South West. Staffing was one of the key issues cited by SJOG when the closure of the maternity ward was announced six weeks ago. The petition on change.org has so far gained more than 180 signatures in just a little more than five days and is aimed at pushing the State and Federal governments to invest in the idea.