More babies take their first breath at Dubbo Hospital than any other facility in the Western NSW Local Health District and four regional hospitals outside its boundaries.
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A new report reveals 1162 babies were born at Dubbo Hospital in 2015.
Its former and well-worn maternity unit helped build families in the city and western and north-western communities for most of 2015. A new maternity unit, constructed under the $91.3 million stage one and two redevelopment of the hospital, started pulling its weight in late November that year.
I’m encouraged by the decrease in the number of women smoking during their pregnancies. That’s now in single digits, having dropped from more than 11 per cent in 2011 to 8.9 per cent in 2015.
- NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner
Orange Hospital’s maternity unit recorded 1011 deliveries in 2015, followed by the maternity unit at Bathurst Hospital with 522. Dubbo Hospital’s maternity unit was also busier in 2015 than that of hospitals at Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Port Macquarie and Wagga Wagga.
The annual and 18th NSW Mothers and Babies report records the number of births in the state and information on recent health trends of mothers and babies. Across NSW 96,391 babies were born to 94,989 mothers in 2015.
NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has welcomed report findings including mothers smoking less and fewer teenagers having babies. “I’m encouraged by the decrease in the number of women smoking during their pregnancies,” she said. “That’s now in single digits, having dropped from more than 11 per cent in 2011 to 8.9 per cent in 2015. “Of those mothers who did smoke, more than a quarter quit the habit early on in their pregnancy.”
The number of teenage mothers fell from 3.2 per cent in 2011 to 2.5 per cent in 2015. In the same period the number of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander teenage mothers dropped from 19 per cent to 15.4 per cent.
