Editorial: Maternity care mess must end

IT NEEDS to be made clear that the review on maternity services in the Palmerston North and Whanganui regions was not critical of Whanganui.

The report took aim squarely at MidCentral Health and its inability to work in a new system that would integrate maternity services for the two cities and their environs.

The report states categorically that MidCentral was responsible for the failure of a Regional Women's Health Service, which was planned to cover staff shortages in maternity services at Whanganui. The review was set up in October 2015 after a cluster of serious events in nine months, including five deaths.

And to clarify, six were at Palmerston North Hospital and one at Whanganui.

Now the project will be reviewed and a less complex process developed to enable reliable obstetric cover for the Whanganui DHB to be maintained.

The review found the service integration failed because clinical leaders at MidCentral weren't interested. Clinical and management responsibilities and accountabilities were murky and high levels of stress led to poor teamwork. Leadership was "over-committed" and maternity clinics were disorganised and poorly planned and managed.

The logical conclusion was a review of clinical leaders and management was needed at MidCentral Health, including workloads. However, the review does have a sting in its tail for Whanganui maternity care.

It recommends that the two DHBs develop a memorandum of understanding or similar agreement that sets out for staff and the community "steps to take in the event of suspension of services due to staff shortages".

It's a concern that all this work has done nothing to improve maternity services in Whanganui.

It is a priority - both for the safety of all women and babies, and continuity of care for Whanganui maternity services - that this mess be sorted.