KEY POINTS:
Prices have increased sharply at Birthcare Auckland for women who want a little extra pampering after giving birth.
Charges at the Parnell maternity hospital have gone up 14 per cent for the first two nights in a private room and 71 per cent for the third.
The company is adjusting to increased costs and has just come out of tough negotiations with the Auckland District Health Board, in which two other parties were interested in the primary maternity contract.
The board pays for women to have a 48-hour post-natal stay, covering both clinical and hotel services, if they gave birth at Birthcare, Auckland City Hospital or Middlemore Hospital.
Birthcare allows women to stay in a "standard" twin-share room for up to three nights at no charge.
Until this month, it charged $280 a night for a single room and extras like an "upmarket" menu - things not funded by the board.
But from February 9, it increased to $320 for each of the first two nights, and to $480 for the third and subsequent nights. The average stay is two and a half days.
Birthcare co-owner Roy Younge said the company had not increased its charges for more than two years and costs had risen.
The health board had focused on dollars in negotiating its new contract with Birthcare, which had been settled but not yet signed. He said the prices in the contract did not keep up with the inflation in the health sector.
"They made us an offer which wasn't palatable to us. We would have had difficulty staying in business. Then there were negotiations and a compromise."
Auckland District Health Board said the price for labour and delivery would increase 24 per cent to $1000 per woman and the cost of post-natal stay would go up 5.3 per cent to $1121.
Around 500 women a year give birth at the hospital and 4000 have their postnatal stay there.
Mr Younge said Birthcare did not charge women in standard rooms when they stayed a third night - which was not funded by the DHB - because it would be "inappropriate" to do so.
Mr Younge said Birthcare, where around 7 per cent of all women nationally had their postnatal stays, expected to receive a fair share of the extra $11 million promised by National before the election for postnatal care.
National said the money would allow mothers to stay longer in birthing facilities and have better access to breastfeeding support.
A spokesman for Health Minister Tony Ryall said the Government intended to implement this policy "as soon as we can".
Maternity Services Consumer Council co-ordinator Lynda Williams said Birthcare's rises were an unfortunate result of the tender process.
"We are really hopeful around the National Government promising extra money for postnatal care. I think this may make things easier for women at Birthcare and other hospitals around the country.
"There's no doubt that two days is totally inadequate and it's the wrong time for women to be going home. We want women to be given more options."
