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Speaker 1: Well as we know. Last week, of course, the Health

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Speaker 1: Minister announced the Macure Darwin Airport Resort is going to

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Speaker 1: provide the post natal maternity retreat from June one for

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Speaker 1: women who were to give birth at the Darwin Private

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Speaker 1: Hospital privately. In short, expecting parents are going to be

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Speaker 1: able to stay at that hotel for up to four

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Speaker 1: nights after giving birth at Royal Darwin Hospital. But there

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Speaker 1: are still some concerns about what that postnatal care is

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Speaker 1: going to look like. And joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: is Kath Hatcher, the head of the Nursing and Midwiffrey

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Speaker 1: Union here in the Northern Territory. Good morning, Cath, Good

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Speaker 1: morning Katie, Kath. Sorry to keep you waiting this morning.

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Speaker 1: Now your perspective, is this proposal going to work?

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Speaker 2: I think it's a good proposal as it's going to

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Speaker 2: be for now, and I think it will work. It's

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Speaker 2: already working for the public. Women who are having their

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Speaker 2: have their babies and they go home, or they do

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Speaker 2: quite away from the hospital, so they might stay a

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Speaker 2: few nights in our hotel for their own cost, and

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Speaker 2: they are visited by a midwife from the hospital, maybe

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Speaker 2: not each day, but definitely the first day after release

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Speaker 2: from the hospital, the women have the ability to ring

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Speaker 2: the women during the day on a particular number and

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Speaker 2: then the rest of after hours on another number, and

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Speaker 2: so they will have that twenty four hour support after ours.

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Speaker 2: It will definitely be via a phone and it's not

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Speaker 2: going to The care that they're going to get is

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Speaker 2: as good as they get for the women that are

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Speaker 2: already going through Royal daun Hospital.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because that had been the biggest concern that was

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Speaker 1: raised by our listeners is whether there was going to

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Speaker 1: be that twenty four our call line. So from your understanding,

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Speaker 1: that is going to be the case.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it is. They'll be able to ring the domicillary

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Speaker 2: midwives from you know, say eight till four point thirty

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Speaker 2: during the day if they haven't had a visit or

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Speaker 2: a phone call already, and then after hours they will

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Speaker 2: be able to ring another phone number, just like the

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Speaker 2: public women that are already having that service.

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Speaker 1: Now, tell me, Kath in terms of the obstetricians, do

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Speaker 1: you think that they're going to be okay with this proposal?

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Speaker 1: More broadly, I mean, are there still concerns at this

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Speaker 1: point or are people feeling as though are health professionals,

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Speaker 1: particularly our nurses and midwives feeling as though this is

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Speaker 1: all reaching a point where it's where it does seem

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Speaker 1: as though it's going to be a positive outcome for mums.

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Speaker 2: I mean, to begin with, there's probably going to be

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Speaker 2: some you know, sorting out and getting it right, and

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Speaker 2: that should should not be the detrimental of the women

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Speaker 2: and babies and their families. They will obviously have to

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Speaker 2: iron out some of the plans that they will put

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Speaker 2: in place and make it better better for the women,

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Speaker 2: babies and their families. I haven't heard from women what

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Speaker 2: they're apart from listening to your program obviously of what

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Speaker 2: women thoughts are and their concerns, and rightly so, but

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Speaker 2: I'm led to believe that the two obstetricians from the

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Speaker 2: private hospital will continue to see the women throughout their

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Speaker 2: pregnancy at the private hospital in their rooms, and when

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Speaker 2: the women go into labor, they will be cared for

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Speaker 2: by midwives as well as their private obstetrician at the

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Speaker 2: public system, no different to what they would experience at

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Speaker 2: the private hospital than when the baby is born and

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Speaker 2: they've had their alloted time in delivery suite, they will

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Speaker 2: go across to the maternity unit or postnatal ward and

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Speaker 2: they will be cared for by the midwives there the

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Speaker 2: same as what they would be on the Jabbaru ward

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Speaker 2: at the private hospital, and their private obstetrician will visit

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Speaker 2: them every day whilst they're in hospital, and then they'll

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Speaker 2: make appointments to see them in the future once they've

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Speaker 2: been discharged from hospital.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well hopefully, I mean I hope that that does

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Speaker 1: provide some comfort to the mum's listening this morning, particularly

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Speaker 1: hearing from you as the head of the nursing and

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Speaker 1: midw reunion. There's you know that there is going to

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Speaker 1: be that fantastic care of course from our wonderful nurses

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Speaker 1: and midwives. I ask you, more broadly, how are things

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Speaker 1: tracking at Royal Darwin Hospital at the moment. Doctor Robert

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Speaker 1: Parker had joined us on the show last week. He

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Speaker 1: raised concerns about code yellows. He had said that the

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Speaker 1: emergency ward at Royal Darwin Hospital was experiencing code yellows,

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Speaker 1: but there'd been a directive to not actually publicly call them.

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Speaker 1: Do you know anything about that?

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Speaker 2: Funnily enough, we hadn't heard that except for what I

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Speaker 2: had heard on your radio last week, so no one

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Speaker 2: had contacted us, whether it be our members or the

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Speaker 2: executive at Royal Darwin Hospital. So yeah, I can't comment

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Speaker 2: on that at all, Katie.

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Speaker 1: All right, well, we will certainly keep an ear on

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Speaker 1: the ground and find out more about that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: our nurse is saying that you know that things are

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Speaker 1: tracking along okay within Royal Darwin Hospital at this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, we haven't had any people come to us about

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Speaker 2: the code yellows, but there are certain areas that we

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Speaker 2: have had members come to us, mostly just individual cases

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Speaker 2: and nothing broadly like a whole ward issue at the moment.

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Speaker 2: So usually when we don't hear it's usually okay or

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Speaker 2: they just haven't had a chance to call us yet.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well let us know if you do hear anything,

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Speaker 1: kath Can I ask more broadly? There has been some

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Speaker 1: concern in national publications about health Scope and the fact

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Speaker 1: that they are seemingly struggling. I mean last week they're

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Speaker 1: board effectively pleaded for bankers to take control of the hospitals.

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Speaker 1: From your perspective, how I mean, are we at risk

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Speaker 1: here of you know, the private hospital potentially not being

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Speaker 1: able to operate if health Scope goes bust and if

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Speaker 1: that was the case. I know it's a big gift.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of you know, a lot of different

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Speaker 1: steps here first, but what would that mean for us

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I did see that media release too, Katie, and

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Speaker 2: it just made me think that eventually Health Scope are

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Speaker 2: gonna sell their hospitals around Australia. That's my first thought.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what that's going to look like. But

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Speaker 2: you know, it's very sad. We've already had a maternity

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Speaker 2: unit there close. We've had a rehab center open at

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Speaker 2: the Darwin Private pretty much days apart from announcing the

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Speaker 2: maternity unit closing at Darwin Private, and you know others

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Speaker 2: around Australia have also closed, like the Hope Art Private

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Speaker 2: as well maternity unit. So I don't know whether they

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Speaker 2: are struggling financially. I mean, you look at what's written

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Speaker 2: on the internet and you know they're making financial millions

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Speaker 2: of gains over the last couple of financial years. So

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure what the space is going to look

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Speaker 2: like in the territory or we'll just have to watch

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Speaker 2: the space and see what happens.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we are going to catch up with the

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Speaker 1: Federal member for Solomon Luke Gosling shortly so we'll take

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Speaker 1: a bit of a closer look into it with him

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Speaker 1: as well. Kath Hatcher, head of the Nursing and midw

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Speaker 1: Reunion here in the Northern Territory, always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for having a chat with us today.

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Speaker 2: Are you very welcome? Thank you, Katie, thank you