February 3, 2023
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SIG N U P N O W!
School’s back for term one
(Justin Flynn)
The summer holidays are over and students returned to school this week. Leopold Primary School had three sets of twins who enjoyed their first day of school as prep pupils on Thursday February 2. Florence and Riley, Chase and Finn and Macy and Holly were excited for their first day of school and principal Stuart Bott said it was a new beginning for all students. “It was really nice to see the parents dropping the kids off to school,” he said. “There was lots of excitement and a few tears. The start overall for the school has been very positive and very calm, and at Leopold we’ve got a really lovely community and the we’ve worked well together to create a positive start for the kids.”
‘Gutted’ by birth decision By Justin Flynn About 100 pregnant women booked to have their babies at Epworth Geelong are now in limbo after the hospital announced the closure of its maternity unit. The hospital announced on Thursday February 2, that the unit would close at midnight on March 31. Epworth cited ongoing workforce challenges for the closure. The announcement came after a petition to save the unit was started by local GP Dr Elise Davey on December 2 and attracted more than 14,000 signatures. Dr Davey said the ramifications of the decision would be felt “for decades to come”. “We’re just gutted,” she said.
“The campaign has worked so hard to truly provide an appropriate and sustainable alternative to keep the unit open and there was a glimmer of hope that today might have been a good news day for us but it’s just devastating. “It’s devastating for the current affected patients, devastating for the medical community and it’s going to be devastating for decades to come.” Dr Davey said the women who were booked in to have their babies delivered after March 31 were owed an apology and that the final decision was what Epworth wanted “since day one”. Epworth interim group chief executive Cameron Fuller said feedback provided during the consultation period was carefully considered.
“Throughout 2022, Epworth initiated ongoing local and overseas recruitment campaigns to address maternity workforce shortages, however Epworth Geelong maternity currently has a shortage of midwives available to cover the 24-7 roster,” he said. “This includes a shortage of midwives available for night shift and to work in the birth suite. This is a current issue and predicted to continue in the medium and longer term. “At this time, we have 14 vacant full time equivalent roles across our maternity service. That is a 44 per cent vacancy rate. “We would like to acknowledge and thank our existing Epworth Geelong midwifery staff who have reached out during this time to express interest in increasing their hours
or moving to our permanent roster. Even with these potential additions, we would still have a 35 per cent vacancy.” Mr Fuller said the decision to close the Epworth Geelong maternity service will be difficult for many people. “We appreciate this will be a very upsetting and difficult day for many of our patients, staff, doctors and the community,” he said. “Epworth Geelong maternity does not have a sustainable workforce to support a safe and sustainable service. “Both Barwon Health and St John of God have publicly stated they have capacity to accommodate any additional births that were previously planned at Epworth Geelong. We will work with everyone impacted and their obstetrician to ensure a plan is in place.”
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