A woman spends an average of two days in Dubbo Hospital after giving birth naturally, reports the Western NSW Local Health District.
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The average stay for a woman who gives birth by caesarean is three days.
“However if there are complications the length of stay is longer and dependent on each individual situation,” a health district spokeswoman said this week.
“We do not pressure women to leave if they want to stay longer and after new mothers leave hospital our community midwives provide them with follow-up care and support.”
The spokeswoman said the average length of stay for women after uncomplicated natural and caesarean births at Dubbo Hospital was in line with the national average.
“The national average length of stay for uncomplicated natural births is 1.8 days, and for uncomplicated caesareans, 3.2 days,” she said.
How long women stay in Dubbo Hospital after giving birth has been discussed on social media since Dubbo Private Hospital announced it was winding up its postnatal and elective caesarean services.
From December 22 they will not be offered at the recently-redeveloped hospital in Moran Drive.
“Sustained low occupancy of postnatal patients” has been blamed for the looming shutdown of the services.
We do not pressure women to leave if they want to stay longer and after new mothers leave hospital our community midwives provide them with follow-up care and support.
- Spokeswoman for the Western NSW Local Health District
Western NSW women have been giving birth at Dubbo Hospital before moving with their babies to Dubbo Private Hospital for rest and instruction on caring and feeding them.
On the Daily Liberal Facebook page, mothers have written of the benefits of a longer stay in hospital and bemoaned the loss of choice in postnatal care.