Senior physician concerned over on-call duty arrangements at maternity wards in Helsinki and Uusimaa hospitals

Manning at Tammisaari, Porvoo and Lohja hospitals under scrutiny

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The Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH) is warning the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS) of possible lawsuits, if the maternity ward services in the area are not put right.
      HUCH Head of Department of Gynaecology and Paediatrics Jari Petäjä has sent a letter regarding the matter to HUS Chief Administrative Physician Juha Tuominen.
      “If a child is born, who either has suffered from lack of oxygen, has suffered injuries, or is dying, negligence from the hospital’s part can immediately be associated with the case, if the obstetrician-on-duty or the medical team needed for an emergency C-section were not present and available within the hospital premises at the time of the incident”, Petäjä writes.
      “The verified and documented figures cannot be made to disappear through debating. In court, at the very latest, the prosecutor will prove this to be the case to those who prefer to daydream”, Petäjä continues.
     
On Monday the HUS board of directors discussed the plans to close down the Tammisaari maternity hospital.
      In the same context, Petäjä’s letter was presented to Tuominen. The HUS administration is also concerned about the numbers of the staff-on-duty at the Porvoo Hospital maternity ward.
      In the same letter, apart from the Tammisaari Hospital, Petäjä also refers to the strengths of duty staffing at the maternity wards of the Porvoo and Lohja hospitals.
      “In Porvoo, some interruptions occurred with delivery activities last summer because of a shortage of paediatricians”, Petäjä writes.
      According to Petäjä’s suggestion, it should be quickly agreed on to what extent the Porvoo specialist doctor situation might allow of the keeping open of the Porvoo maternity ward.
      For example during the weekends and holidays, woman in labour could be directed straight to the Kätilöopisto Maternity Hospital in Helsinki, Petäjä suggests.
     
Petäjä points out in his letter that the urgency in reorganising the deliveries arises from the shortage of doctors - a situation which cannot be rectified with an injection of money.
      “There simply are not enough doctors to cover the on-call duties at seven separate maternity wards”, Petäjä writes.
      According to Petäjä, a recent conclusion by a maternity ward working group that deliveries are safe everywhere is not sustainable.
     
The Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS) will decide on the arrangement of deliveries in the Province of Uusimaa in an October 12th meeting.
      On the agenda is, among other things, the closure of the Tammisaari Maternity Hospital.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  One in four Finns born in HUCH hospitals (15.4.2008)

Links:
  HUS

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