A $2.6 million refurbishment of the maternity unit at Calvary Public Hospital will see three extra beds added to the ward, ACT Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris confident that will meet the need of the burgeoning northern suburbs.
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The work now means most women having their baby at Calvary Public will get their own room.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data last year showed the Gungahlin district has Canberra's highest birthrate at 1.94 per woman., but Calvary administrators and Ms Fitzharris agree that many expectant mothers on the northside are heading south, lured by the new facilities of the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children at Woden.
More than 1550 babies were born at Calvary at Bruce last year. The latest available figures show 3659 were born at the Centenary Hospital in Woden in 2016.
One senior Calvary midwife candidly commented that the current situation was "crazy" for women at Calvary to possibly have to share a room with three other women and their babies where by comparison they could have a single room at the Centenary Hospital.
The work at Calvary - which will increase bed numbers in the maternity ward from 15 to 18 - hopes to turn that situation around and convince more women to have their babies northside.
Women expecting their babies in July will be the first to try out the new facilities.
To accommodate the upgrade, the maternity ward at Calvary Public will be temporarily relocated to Level 6 of the Xavier Building (previously used by Calvary Private), starting Friday, February 23.
The refurbished maternity ward will increase its bed capacity from 15 to 18, offering a combination of 10 single rooms with ensuites and four large two-bed rooms with bathrooms.
The facilities at Calvary currently include just seven single rooms and four rooms, each with four beds in them.
Calvary's clinical midwife consultant Jane Debaecker said the funding was "extremely important", helping to put an end to a situation where four women and their babies - and their visiting family and friends - had to share one room.
"You can see just how difficult it would be for four women and four babies to share this space so we're just thrilled to be able to offer them single rooms or we are going to have three double rooms," she said.
"And we're going to offer, as does the Centenary Hospital, space for the partners to stay, which is so important during the post-natal stage."
Ms Debaecker said the attraction of the newer facilities at the Centenary Hospital was great for many northside families, despite the drive, and especially for first-time mums.
"Mostly, we see Calvary families here, so families who've had their first baby with us, they want to come back," she said.
"But for couples having their first baby, why wouldn't they choose the Centenary Hospital where they can have a single room, their own ensuite, beautiful facilities. If they see us with four-bedded rooms. I mean, crazy to choose that."
Ms Debaecker said she hoped women and their babies would get the single rooms and the two-bedded rooms would be used by women recovering from gynaecological surgery or requiring antenatal care.
The upgrade includes:
Refreshing the look and feel of the maternity ward by providing more space for mothers, their babies and their families;
A new patient and family lounge room and beverage bay;
A new baby and parent education and assessment room; and
Contemporary birth suite rooms.
Ms Fitzharris was asked if three extra beds was enough for Calvary when the Gungahlin was new nappy valley.
"We do know this investment in having a modern, fresh facility with more availability of, particularly single beds, and more beds overall will mean we can meet the needs," she said.
The minister agreed more families were choosing the Centenary Hospital but hoped the revitalised facilities at Calvary would persuade to them to have their babies northside.
"We have seen since the Centenary Hospital was upgraded more women wanting to have their babies there because of the facilities. We know there is an excellent quality of service both at Calvary and at Canberra hospital. What this announcement will do, is bring the facilities here [at Calvary] up to a really high standard so that more and more women can have their babies on the northside here at Calvary," Ms Fitzharris said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne was unimpressed, claiming the health system was "in crisis mode".
"Despite a tripling in health spending, we have overflowing emergency departments, lengthy disruptions in critical patient services, long and painful waiting times, missing and manipulated health data, and high risk critical infrastructure," Mrs Dunne said.
"Minister Fitzharris is unrelenting in her failure. $2.6 million for three extra beds sounds like an awful miscalculation in what seems to be a Labor-Greens trend of throwing money at a problem with the expectation that it will fix itself."
