NSW: Women should get pan to stop toilet miscarriages: review
16 Feb 2009 6:56 PM
SYDNEY, Feb 16 AAP - Women in danger of losing their babies at a NSW hospital should be given a pan or a commode chair so they don't miscarry into a toilet, a review has recommended.
The review, prompted by three miscarriages in toilets at Maitland Hospital, has sparked a furious response from the NSW Opposition.
Health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said the recommendation that women be handed a pan or chair showed the government had learned nothing from the appalling treatment of Jana Horska.
The recommendation fell well short of commitments the government gave after Ms Horska's case surfaced 18 months ago, she said.
Ms Horska was 14 weeks pregnant and in acute pain when she went to Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital in September 2007. After waiting in the emergency room for two hours, she miscarried into a toilet.
In the days that followed, then health minister Reba Meagher said a directive had been issued to hospitals that cases of suspected miscarriage should immediate be transferred from emergency departments to maternity or special care units.
"I fear that this report (into the Maitland hospital miscarriages) backs away from the government's commitment," Mrs Skinner told reporters on Monday.
"I believe it's a funding issue, the government has not resourced either maternity departments or early pregnancy units so they can actually accommodate the recommendations after the Jana Horska miscarriage.
"This is clearly a case of the government walking away from its commitment."
The review, released on Monday, was ordered after three women came forward complaining about the care they received while suffering miscarriages in the toilets at Maitland Hospital in 2008.
It makes 14 recommendations to improve the management of miscarriages at the hospital, including that women presenting with symptoms of miscarriage be handed a pan or a commode chair to prevent them from miscarrying into toilets.
Hunter New England Health chief executive Nigel Lyons, who initiated the review, said it had been a difficult time for all involved.
"While there is nothing staff could have done to prevent miscarriages, they have spent considerable time reflecting on what happened and how the events could have unfolded for a better outcome for the women," Dr Lyons said.
He said a number of the 14 recommendations contained in the review were already in place while most would be in place within the next three months.
