Maternity staff positive despite threat of closure

It’s not quite business as usual at Lumsden Maternity Centre at the moment.

As well as fighting the Southern District Health Board for its survival, the staff have been busy delivering more babies than usual at the centre.

It’s kept staff morale high, despite the fact that they don’t know whether they’ll have jobs in the future.

The Southern DHB has proposed to downgrade the Lumsden Maternity Centre from an inpatient primary birthing unit to a ‘‘maternal and child hub’’ with no birthing facilities and fewer postnatal care options.

It received more than 200 submissions on the proposal, called Southern Maternity System of Care, which was a review of maternity services throughout Otago and Southland.

The centre is run by a charity called the Northern Southland Health Company, which is chaired by Carrie Adams, and it employs about 20 staff or contractors, she said.

The centre’s future was in doubt in 2017, as the funding it received from the DHB, which had been frozen since 2011, was not sustainable as staff, auditing and compliance costs rose.

Public meetings were held and the centre stayed open, with an increase in funding.

‘‘It seems to be a bit of a pattern,’’ Adams said.

‘‘We received $370,000 in funding last year, which you would think in the big scheme of things would be a drop in the bucket to them.’’