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New Midwifery Birth Centre at Bentley
Work began in September 2023 on a new Midwifery Birth Centre at Bentley Health Service (BHS), which will become the first public health service in WA offering a new, contemporary model of care for public patients.
The innovative centre, which will care for about 300 women a year, is being built in the old Ward 2 birthing suites at the hospital’s A Block.
Architects have been working closely with the project’s clinical lead and the facilities team.
Phase one demolition work began in December 2023 and is now complete, with builders onsite. The centre is due to be completed by late 2024.
When open, the centre will have a team of midwives and management.
State-of-the-art facilities will include birth suites with built in birthing pools, antenatal assessment rooms, a family room and a midwives’ hub, as well as networking capability to share live birth data with other WA Health sites.
The WA Government has provided the funding to design, build and fit out the centre, which will provide services for women with low-risk pregnancies in the EMHS catchment area.
More choice for mothers-to-be at Armadale
A new birthing suite officially opened at Armadale Health Service (AHS) in April 2024, giving expectant mothers the option of water births.
The suite, with a permanent bath, joins other AHS maternity services in providing women with a choice of birth settings.
It was opened by the Hon Amber-Jade Sanderson, Minister for Health; Mental Health.
Supporting parents
Our public health nutrition team has continued to work with Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers on an early parenting program, the Happy Parenting Program.
The ECU-led program is investigating how parents and babies can best be supported during the challenging period of 4 to 12 months in a child’s life.
Parenting workshops have been run regularly. Program findings are due later in 2024.
Every week counts for mothers and babies at Armadale
AHS has set an excellent benchmark in maternity care with some of the best outcomes in Australia for women reaching 39 weeks for the birth of their babies.
The 39-week target is important as babies are then fully developed and not preterm (before 37 weeks) or early term (37 or 38 weeks). They can go on to have better lives, and particularly a vastly reduced chance of behavioural problems.
AHS was part of a global first national collaborative with more than 50 other Australian hospitals, to help mothers carry babies to full term. The collaborative is Every Week Counts National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaboration Program.
Initiatives included improving education for women and health professionals about preterm birth risk factors, obtaining cervix measurements through ultrasounds (so action can be taken to prevent an early birth) and all inductions and booked caesareans before 39 weeks being clinically reviewed to ensure they are necessary.
Results from February 2024 were astounding. Since commencing in September 2022 AHS achieved a 24 per cent relative improvement in preterm births and a 20 per cent relative improvement in early term births, meeting or bettering the national target of 20 per cent reductions.
The excellent outcomes saw AHS chosen to present at a national Every Week Counts showcase in Canberra in March 2024. Armadale Kalamunda Group Executive Director Neil Cowan commended the clinical leadership of AHS Maternity Unit Head of Department, Dr Sangeeta Malla Bhat.
Full results are due to be published in late 2024.
