Local Midwives Support Re-Opening of Burwood Birthing Unit ASAP

Despite the temporary closure of the Burwood Birthing Unit after the Valentines Day earthquake, the Canterbury/West Coast Region of the New Zealand College of Midwives has been assured by the Canterbury DHB that primary birthing options remain a priority in the DHB's redevelopment and rebuild work.

Chair of the Canterbury West Coast NZCOM region, Kelly Dorgan says currently there are more than 6000 births a year occurring in the region's Tertiary birthing facility (Christchurch Women’s Hospital) - a facility that was built to manage 4000 births annually.

"Our primary birthing facility needs were already urgent before Burwood closed," she says. "Without adequate primary facilities, the women with the most complex specialist needs are having to compete for restricted specialist resources available in the tertiary facility (including midwives and doctors) with low-risk women who would otherwise birth in the primary units if they were purpose-built and close," she says.

Dorgan says adequate, purpose-built well-positioned primary facilities free up specialist resources for those who need them most, and offer women having low risk pregnancies and births, appropriate care and excellent outcomes in practical locations that allow timely and safe transfers if required.

"The recent closure of the Burwood Birthing Unit further increases the pressure on the limited resources within the CDHB. It also significantly restricts access to health services for the families in the east of the city who have been most affected by five plus years’ of earthquakes and aftershocks."

Kelly Dorgan adds that "The Canterbury West Coast Region of the New Zealand College of Midwives considers it imperative that the CDHB shows a commitment to primary birthing options for women in Canterbury by committing to build and fund a centrally located primary birthing facility; and by reopening Burwood Birthing Unit until other options are available for women and families in the east."