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Frome MP Penny Pratt disappointed to see more health services shafted in country South Australia

Dan Crouch

Liberal member for Frome Penny Pratt joined Flow FM's Country Viewpoint and shared her disappointment in seeing Kapunda become the latest regional hospital in South Australia to have its midwifery services removed.



"My concern is for expecting mothers. Maternity patients in Kapunda, for the next two months at least, the maternity patients and the midwifery services at Kapunda Hospital are now on a diversion away from Kapunda to at least Gawler but probably Lyell McEwin Hospital... If I can explain that a bit further, I have it on good authority from people who are having babies that Gawler has been on bypass on and off for the last few months."


Kapunda Hospital is an estimated 45 minutes north-east of Lyell McEwin Hospital by car, posing obvious problems for expecting mothers in and near Kapunda.


"For the last 12 months around regional South Australia, we have been aware of the withdrawal of midwifery services on Kangaroo Island for at least four months, and then they were returned. The government was able to restore that service. But on the very same day they made that announcement, we learned that Whyalla communities and expecting mothers were going to be without midwifery services. That is in conjunction with no services in Waikerie. We add Kapunda to it now and Gawler on and off this year has been without those services."


"If you're excited about a baby coming to grow your family or start your family and you live in country SA, you should expect to be able to deliver that baby closer to home."


"We are fighting always to see investments and funding directed at our country hospitals, our country health services to ensure a standard of care that people living in country SA should expect... the answer to workforce shortages in part has to be incentives to attract our nurses to live and work in country and say and that is a challenge for the current state Labor government that they have failed to deliver on. There are no incentives in South Australia that that compete with other states for example Victoria which has about 201 million dollars on the table for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals."

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