New maternity model of care for Perth

St John of God Health Care has unveiled a new north / south model of private maternity care across its Perth metropolitan private hospitals, providing parents-to-be with expanded world-class maternity services.

16 Nov 2023

Under the new model, St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital maternity services will transfer to St John of God Subiaco Hospital to consolidate the group’s northern private services. There will be no changes to maternity services at St John of God Murdoch Hospital.

The two centres of excellence are well positioned to cater for Perth’s growing population and the future demand for high quality private maternity services.

St John of God Health Care CEO Bryan Pyne said the transfer would take place on 20 December 2023, enabling the organisation to respond to workforce challenges and better align service capability with community needs.

“Providing exceptional patient care remains our number one priority. This has been our focus and will continue to be our focus after the transfer,” Mr Pyne said.

“Our community’s needs are changing and we are seeing private maternity admissions dropping across our hospitals as the birth rate in Western Australia trends downwards.

“It is also becoming increasingly difficult to sustain the highly skilled maternity workforce across three hospital sites, especially over holiday periods.

“Despite our best efforts to resolve these workforce issues over the past two years, we need to transfer Mt Lawley maternity services before Christmas to ensure continuity of care and to maintain our high standard of care for our patients.

“Consolidating private maternity services at two sites will enable us to continue to develop and enhance our services with our highly skilled workforce.

“St John of God Subiaco Hospital has the capacity to provide these services and is well progressed with the planning to deliver a new eight-storey clinical facility that will include a world-class Mother and Baby Centre.”

All Mt Lawley midwives, nurses and obstetricians are being consulted and supported through the transition, and there will be no job losses. All births planned for Mt Lawley can be accommodated at Subiaco hospital.

St John of God Subiaco Hospital CEO Tina Chinery said parents-to-be transferring to Subiaco would be well looked after and enjoy the birth experience they planned, with additional services such as a neonatal nursery should their newborn need any extra care.

“St John of God Subiaco has been delivering babies for 85 years and we are thrilled to welcome new parents-to-be and caregivers to this hospital,” Ms Chinery said.

“Consolidating the wealth of knowledge and experience of the Mt Lawley and Subiaco teams is the first step towards delivering our new Mother and Baby Centre at Subiaco.

“The move provides St John of God Health Care with an opportunity to co-design a new service delivery model with both our clinicians and community, focusing not only on delivery but pre and post-natal care, including the fourth trimester.”

St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital CEO Vanessa Unwin said the organisation was extremely proud of the maternity services it had offered at Mt Lawley, but the sustainability of its services depended on responding to the community’s changing needs.

“I look forward to seeing the evolution of maternity care at Subiaco in a centre of excellence and the continued delivery of outstanding care at Murdoch,” Ms Unwin said.

“I would like to thank our wonderful team of doctors and caregivers at Mt Lawley for their dedication to the care of women and babies and look forward to seeing how St John of God Health Care continues to develop an exceptional experience for parents-to-be.”

St John of God Health Care is liaising directly with affected patients to ensure a smooth transfer of service.

Our community’s needs are changing and we are seeing private maternity admissions dropping across our hospitals as the birth rate in Western Australia trends downwards.

It is also becoming increasingly difficult to sustain the highly skilled maternity workforce across three hospital sites, especially over holiday periods.

Consolidating private maternity services at two centres of excellence - Subiaco and Murdoch - will enable us to continue to develop and enhance our services with our highly skilled workforce.

St John of God Subiaco Hospital has the capacity to provide additional maternity services. Parents-to-be will continue to be well looked after and enjoy the birth experience they planned, with additional services such as a neonatal nursery should their newborn need any extra care.

St John of God Subiaco Hospital is just 7.3km from St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital and is well connected to the Mitchell and Graham Farmer freeways.

The Family Birthing Unit at St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital will operate normally until 6am on Wednesday 20 December 2023. If your admission date is on or before 19 December 2023 you will have your baby at St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital as planned.

If your admission date is on, or after, 6am on Wednesday 20 December, or if your pregnancy goes beyond the 20 December, you will receive personalised information from your obstetrician to ensure you have all the details of your new hospital location.

We anticipate most of our obstetricians will transfer to St John of God Subiaco Hospital, however some may opt to go to St John of God Murdoch Hospital.

We are working closely with all obstetricians to confirm your new hospital and getting this information to you is our highest priority.

If you need any maternity care prior to 6am on Wednesday 20 December, please call St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital's Family Birthing Unit on 08 9370 9420 who will provide advice and liaise with your obstetrician. If it is decided you need to be assessed or admitted this will be to St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital.

If you need maternity care after this date please call your new hospital:

St John of God Subiaco Hospital: 08 9382 6111, or
St John of God Murdoch Hospital: 08 9333 9840

Yes, the obstetrician you are booked with remains the same, the only change is to the hospital location.

You will be provided with comprehensive information regarding where to go and what to do via phone call and email. You will be invited to a personalised tour of your new hospital, at a time that works for you.

St John of God Health Care will take care of this for you. You will not need to submit any new paperwork.

No, St John of God Health Care will ensure that you are not financially impacted by this change. All costs will remain the same as when you booked through St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital.

If you have already paid your excess to St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital, and you will now deliver your baby at Subiaco or Murdoch, you do not need to do anything. We will transfer this excess across with your admission to your new hospital.

St John of God Subiaco and Murdoch Hospitals offer the same exceptional care as St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital, such as partner stays, room service dining, access to breastfeeding support and mental health support. Murdoch and Subiaco also provide additional services on site such as emergency and specialist neonatal care, an Intensive Care Unit and blood bank, all with the support and care of our midwives, nurses and experienced caregivers.

Yes, the Pregnancy Baby and Beyond Clinic at St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital remains open. Any future changes to this service will be communicated directly to patients.

St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital is not closing. All other services at the hospital remain operating as usual.