National List MP based in Hutt South, Chris Bishop,  says his petition to save the Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre at Melling in Lower Hutt has just clicked over 5,000 signatures.

“In just a few days more than 5000 people have signed my petition to send a message to the Government that it is unacceptable that Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre at Melling closes down because of a lack of government support.

“The Birthing Centre has only been open since 2018 and is likely to fold unless the Hutt Valley DHB swallows its pride and accepts that choosing to birth at the Birthing Centre is a legitimate choice by Hutt women.

“Funding should flow from where a woman chooses to give birth, not the ideological diktats of a District Health Board which would rather see a Birthing Centre close and put more pressure on an already stretched hospital maternity unit.

“Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall’s comment yesterday that any decision regarding the closure of the Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre was “theirs to make” beggars belief. The Birthing Centre would not be in this situation were it not for DHB obstinacy— a DHB which, prior to her election, Dr Verrall was on the Board of.

“Maternity in the Hutt is in crisis:

• Over the weekend Hutt Hospital’s maternity ward went into a “code red” staffing crisis and at some points just one midwife was working.
• The number of Lead Maternity Carers (LMC) in the Hutt on 1 June was just 28 and this is set to fall even further.
• Hutt Hospital's maternity service is short 15 out of 50 full-time equivalent staff.
• The number of babies born by caesarean section in the Hutt is one of the highest and the country. Answers to written questions show that in 2016, 33 per cent were born by caesarean section an in 2020 it was 40 per cent.

The District Health Board and Ministers must urgently intervene to make sure Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre does not close and make a bad situation even worse.

“The closure of the birthing centre would be a disaster for Mums, babies and families in the Hutt Valley.

“Big promises were made by the Government following the damning external review of Hutt maternity in 2019, but have come to nothing, with Hutt maternity in crisis and getting worse.”

ENDS

Editor’s Note: The petition can be viewed here.

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