Westmead’s Birth Unit celebrates ten years

Westmead Hospital’s Birth Unit today celebrated its ten year anniversary since being refurbished.

The refurbishment provided a greater level of comfort to new mums, with an en-suite introduced in all birthing rooms.

Seven of the rooms had baths installed,  where 998 women have delivered babies via waterbirth.

More than 5,700 families choose to birth their babies at Westmead Hospital each year.

Clinical midwife educator Natascha Dastur said the birth of a baby is one of the most exciting and life changing events a mother and their families will experience.

“Midwives and obstetricians work collaboratively in ensuring that birth is not just seen in the making of babies, but rather about making mothers and families strong, competent and capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength, so that it can be their greatest achievement, rather than their greatest fear,” Natascha said.

“We are proud of our commitment to provide a service that meets varied and individualised families’ needs through this important life event.

“Birthing practices have changed tremendously in the last 10 years since the new unit was built and we have hit many milestones.”

Some of the key milestones include:

• New models of care, including caseload group practice and the collaborative agreement with Private Practice Midwives who will now be primary carers for women in their care when they choose to birth in hospital.
• Total of 53,609 births – 31,369 midwife lead, and 22,240 obstetrician lead.
• Multiple births: 1,141 twins, 43 triplets and 4 quadruplets in the 10 years that this unit was refurbished.
• Highest number of births yet, in the year 2017 – 5,869.

“Thank you to all members of our incredible team that work their hardest to ensure the needs of women and families are met and ensuring that the standards of the centre of excellence are up held,” Natascha said.

More birth stories can be found here.

Got a question for our Women’s and Newborn Health team at Westmead Hospital? Visit the webpage here.