More babies means bigger maternity for Bass Coast Health

WITH more babies being born, Bass Coast Health (BCH) is prioritising the upgrade of its maternity services as part of stage 2 of the Wonthaggi Hospital expansion.

The State Labor Government had promised to fund Stage 2 during the 2022 election, with $290M allocated.

When the State Budget was announced this year, the Wonthaggi funding was included within the ‘Hospital Infrastructure Delivery Fund’ of $320 million across six projects statewide.

The Sentinel-Times had reported at the time that some $78.5m of that will be expended in 2023-24, presumably on design, leaving a remainder of $241.5 million.

Stage 2 includes two new wards, increasing patient capacity by up to 64 beds, a new labour and delivery complex and new outpatient clinic with around 25 treatment spaces, providing space for patients needing dialysis, chemotherapy and specialist appointments.

The Sentinel-Times met with BCH CEO Jan Child and Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale last week to hear how important the next stage will be to keep up with demand, especially for maternity services.

Ms Child said BCH is planning for the transition to a level 4 maternity service from level 3.

“We hope to transition by the end of the year, but where we’re going to get into trouble is we’re going to run out of space,” she said.

“If we grow to a level 4, there’s about 200-300 women a year that go outside of the catchment now.

“Often many of them go to Casey or Warragul, but they’ll come back here to birth and so we’re going to run out of space really quickly.

“So getting this built is really critical.”

As part of the stage 1 development, ‘shell units’ were constructed ready to be fitted out including the maternity space.

 “We want them (mothers) to have their whole care here, as soon as they go to another place, you don’t want to be in a car or go over to Monash when you’ve just given birth,” she said.

“I spoke with the Victorian Health Building Authority CEO and said that maternity is our greatest priority, it needs to happen.

“She’s going to come out in a couple of weeks.”

“I envisage we’ll be doing a masterplan but also for the whole site and stage 2.”

A figure couldn’t be put on how much is needed to get the works started as it was still too early, but it is hoped it will be completed within two years. 

“I just love that when we built stage 1 we included and set aside a massive space across two floors for future expansion of services – smart really,” said Ms Crugnale.

“The space is there, it’s ready to be designed up, fitted out and turned into a new level 4 maternity unit on one level and have expanded pathology and pharmacy services on the other.

“A level 4 maternity unit is the highest priority for BCH, so it’s a priority for me, I’ve been going on about it since well before the election and I will keep at it - our government is all about making sure

Victorians get the care they need close to home.

“Why wouldn’t you want to start delivering on our Stage 2 commitment if the space is there ready to be fitted out?  

“It means we can deliver a whole new birthing complex, even pharmacy and pathology a lot sooner as we do the master planning for the new build aspect of Stage 2.”

Overall, an early works Stage 2 package would deliver:

• Four birthing suites

• Six post natal beds

• Create a neo natal nursery

• Consulting suites

• Water birthing room