A new birthing centre boasting three newly built and one newly refurbished birthing suites has been opened at Campbelltown Hospital, as part of the its $134 million redevelopment.
The birthing centre is located in the Birthing Unit, along with the hospital’s existing delivery suites, bringing the total number of beds to 11.
The new rooms offer a less clinical environment for women with low risk pregnancies who do not require an extended hospital stay.
The new suites offer birthing balls, a sound system for relaxing music, larger beds, lounge chairs, double headed showers and refrigerators for patients’ refreshments.
Two of the rooms also include a large pain relief birthing bath that is used to support more natural methods of pain relief prior to birth.
An additional two assessment beds have also been added to the Birthing Unit, bringing the total number to four.
Assessment beds are used to monitor a baby’s heart rate before it is born, monitor a woman’s contractions or to determine whether a mother is in labour.
Birthing Suite Nursing Unit Manager Caroline Bester said the new rooms were designed to offer mothers a more relaxed alternative to routine birthing suites.
“The rooms are for women who have had uncomplicated pregnancies and want to have their baby in a more natural, home-like environment,” Ms Bester said.
“Women in the Birthing Centre are cared for by midwives from both the Midwifery Group Practice and the Hospital’s Maternity Unit,” she said.
In the 2013/14 financial year, Campbelltown Hospital delivered more than 2,930 babies.
The number of babies born at Campbelltown Hospital is increasing, with 3,576 women projected to give birth each year at Campbelltown Hospital by 2022.
For more information about the Campbelltown Hospital redevelopment visit:
www.swslhd.nsw.gov.au/ccq/redevelopment
