This post delves on Australian maternity hospitals, and of what Aussies think of the care and services they provide. Private maternity facilities in Australia are very similar to those in other countries. However, know beforehand that women who choose to give birth in a private medical facility are those with private health insurance. Otherwise, it’s quite expensive to seek maternity health care and child birth services in a private Aussie hospital.
Pregnant patients being cared for by a private obstetrician have to give birth at the same hospital where the latter works. The connection and collaboration between the obstetrician and the private hospital helps ensure proper monitoring of pregnancy developments up to the day the baby is delivered.
In Australia, most women prefer to have their prenatal sessions and child delivery in the labour ward or birthing centre of a public hospital. Mainly because the costs are largely covered by Medicare and therefore substantially free. However, unlike in private hospitals, pregnant patients with complications cannot choose to have their own doctor in a public hospital. Prenatal care and child delivery services for low-risk pregnancies are usually provided by whichever team of midwives are available.
In most cases, Australian women seek advice and referral from a general physician before deciding on the options available in the different public hospitals in their area.
Safety and Quality of Care and Services Provided by Australian Maternity Facilities
Private maternity clinics, better known as birthing centres, are connected to private hospitals and offered as an alternative for low-risks pregnant women. Public hospitals on the other hand perform child delivery services in their labour wards, with mostly midwives in attendance. An obstetrician attends to a patient only if with problematic conditions.
The safety and quality of hospitals in Australia are ensured by numerous regulatory mechanisms and systems that oversee not only the quality of the hospital services. The regulations include measures surrounding medicines, medical devices, the hospital workforce and the integrity of the structure. In Australia, concrete footings and slabs must follow the slab thickness set under the Australian standards. The thickness standards for hospitals are stated in the specification documents supporting the arrangements for the building of the hospital.
Based on a survey conducted by The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), about 90% of patients who submitted themselves for treatment in a hospital said their doctors often listened carefully to them.