| By Nicole Ferrie
Ostetricians working round the clock
BENDIGO women may have to travel to Melbourne for private obstetric and gynaecological care.
With the city’s birth rate steadily rising, Bendigo’s three private obstetricians are struggling to meet demand for their services.
They are working around the clock to serve their own patients along with those using the public health system.
Doctors Robin Monro, Peter Roessler and John Cullen are working a one-in-three weekend roster at St John of God and a one-in-five weekend roster at Bendigo Health.
They also operate on daily rosters for each of the hospitals and are on call around the clock to their own private patients.
With 1186 babies born at Bendigo Health and about 400 babies at St John of God last year, the city is desperate for two more obstetricians.
The search for a private practitioner has been ongoing for five to six years, but the need is now more acute.
Bendigo Health and St John of God are offering a combined public-private package to appeal to those considering a move to the city, but even that effort has failed to bring rewards.
If any of the three private obstetricians decided to step down from private practice in the near future, the hospitals believe services would be compromised.
“We would struggle to provide the level of service this community needs, and would rely on locum cover,” Bendigo Health’s executive director of nursing and surgical services Glenis Beaumont said.
“We are using opportunities to link into obstetricians that we know are looking for employment, contacts the obstetricians themselves have, discussions with previous registrars, and we are about to start advertising.”
St John of God chief executive Michael Hogan echoed Ms Beaumont’s concerns. “We see the need for more,” he said.
“It is a concern if there are less obstetricians, as it potentially means a reduced service.
“We have been advertising nationally for more obstetricans.
“We are working with Bendigo Health on this; we have an arrangement that we will employ them for private work and they would employ them for public work.
“We have also been talking with recruitment agencies about overseas-trained doctors, and we intend to keep looking nationally.”
Obstetrician and gynaecologist Robin Monro said the present workload was significant.
“Because of the increased workload we are all struggling to cope with the available time and the number of patients,” he said.
“Because we cover the private side as well it’s becoming more and more difficult to work in a one in three private roster and a one in five public roster.”
Dr Monro said the challenge was coping with the ever increasing number of patients and maintaining a high level of care.
“It’s very busy, there’s just not enough in gynaecology or obstetics and that means the waiting time for patients waiting to have their first consultation extends longer and longer and if we are interrupted on the obstetric side it means patients have to wait and reschedule and there’s no rooom to put them in which extends the number of hours you’re working each day.
“We really need another general obstetrician and gynaecologist and preferably two.”
However, with many trainees sub-specialising, few are entering private obstetric and gynaecological practice.
Dr Monro said with fewer doctors covering private obstetrics some private practitioners “may find the situation so onerous that they may remove their services, which would leave no private choice for pregnant women”.
“It certainly has been mentioned and thought about, but there are no plans for that at this stage,” he said.
Expanding midwifery services is also an option in private practice, but that would still require 24 hour specialist cover for emergencies.
“The other scenario may be those practising might have to close their books, cap the numbers they do which leaves less choice for the privately insured patients,” Dr Monro said.
“They would then have an option of going to Melbourne.
“It’s not really fair on the patients that one becomes so busy one can’t give them the time that they need.”
However, Dr Monro said if private books were closed to patients for periods of time, it would put pressure on an already strained public health system.
“The public side is very very busy and the facilities are extended,” he said.
“We can only hope for a solution, that we can attract suitable specialists to come and join the Bendigo community.”
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