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Clinical staff at Centenary Hospital for Women and Children say mothers and babies' lives are being put at risk by chronic overcrowding within the maternity unit. It is understood senior nurses and midwives at the hospital - who remained anonymous - penned a letter and forwarded it to local politicians including the Minister for Health Meegan Fitzharris. As a result of the letter open meetings were held with ACT Health executives with staff invited to air their concerns. Some staff within the hospital - which is located at Canberra Hosptial campus - said there were still ongoing tensions with the letter causing uproar among staff and management. Ms Fitzharris told Canberra Times the contents of the anonymous letter were concerning. She said she immediately took action and asked ACT Health to follow up on the issues and claims it raised. The letter, which was delivered last week, claimed all areas of the maternity unit were consistently over capacity. It said there were daily over-bookings of labour inductions and not enough rooms in the postnatal ward to accommodate women after birth so women were forced to wait long periods in the waiting area. "Due to the lack of available beds, women and babies are discharged home inappropriately early with feeding, pain or health concerns," the letter said. "Babies are often re-admitted to [the hospital] due to excessive weight-loss as a direct result of being sent home early due to hospital capacity. "Staff are unable to provide adequate breastfeeding support in the brief period they are in the hospital and Midcall, the hospital postnatal home visiting service has been substantially reduced. "Staff are committed to providing quality care but are unable to, and patients are regularly neglected." Further allegations included that women were sometimes forced to wait in pain or miss out entirely on epidurals due to the high workload of the anaesthetists. They also alleged the hospital moved dirty and broken chairs as well as faulty equipment during the recent accreditation process as a matter of urgency, only to place them back after accreditation. The letter said over rostering was also implemented to give the illusion of appropriate staffing levels during the process. "Staff at [Centenary Hospital] need appropriate resources and support to provide adequate and safe care to women, babies and families across the board," the letter said. "All areas are severely lacking and bullying is ever present. The issues raised impact on the care of patients on a daily basis. "It is demoralising for staff who care so much about the job they do, and there are many of us. "It is frustrating and upsetting to feel so helpless in such a poorly managed and impossibly busy work environment, unable to provide the care we know we should and feeling consistently exhausted physically and emotionally. The negative effects on patients and staff are seen daily. "It is only a matter of time before there is an adverse outcome for a mother, baby or staff member. "Some may say this has already been the case." ACT Nurses and Midwifery Federation secretary Matthew Daniel said while he knew of the letter, he was not aware of all its contents. But he said he was aware of ongoing issues around workload for midwives at the hospital. "I do believe there's a genuine commitment to want to fix it," he said. Ms Fitzharris acknowledged there had been further strain placed on maternity staff - due to increased demand - at Canberra Hospital since Centenary opened in 2012. "To address this strain, the management team is committed to working through any issues staff may raise in a respectful and supportive way," she said. "ACT Health takes all allegations of bullying seriously and actively works to manage and prevent inappropriate behaviours in the workplace and has zero tolerance for such behaviour. "The ACT Health restructure will further provide an opportunity to really focus on service delivery, and staff feedback will be vital to this process over coming months." She said the hospital provided safe and high quality care for women and children and the feedback from patients was overwhelmingly positive. But Ms Fitzharris said she wanted to encourage more women to choose Calvary Hospital to have their babies to ease pressure on the hospital. She highlighted Calvary's newly refurbished maternity ward, increasing bed capacity from 15 to 18, which is expected to be finished in July. "I also want to be clear that women and babies are not sent home until they are well. Women receive post discharge support by domiciliary midwifery services and Maternal and Child Health Services," Ms Fitzharris said. Do you know more? Email daniella.white@fairfaxmedia.com.au.

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