Letters
Women's health
Volume 190 - Issue 9

Adverse outcomes of labour in public and private hospitals in Australia

Authors:  Stephen J Robson, Paula Laws and Elizabeth A Sullivan

Med J Aust 2009; 190 (9): 518-519. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02543.x
Published online: 4 May 2009
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In reply: We thank Sutherland and colleagues for their comments and acknowledge that dissemination of our research findings1 by some in the Australian media has caused unnecessary alarm.2,3 The data presented in our article show that there appear to be different risk profiles for women giving birth in the public and private sectors in Australia. We agree with Sutherland et al that the “public hospital system in Australia is designed to cater for women at risk of adverse events in pregnancy and labour, regardless of their health insurance status” and/or risk profile.

Watson and colleagues estimate that about 19% of all perinatal deaths among term births in Victoria are due to congenital anomalies.4 This is consistent with a reported national figure of 18.1% for 2004.5 This limitation should have been acknowledged in our article, even if the analysis was not possible. Congenital anomaly data are not currently included in the Perinatal National Minimum Data Set. This limitation highlights the need for integrated uniform national perinatal data on cause of perinatal death and diagnosis of congenital anomaly.

Authors

  • Stephen J Robson1
  • Paula Laws2
  • Elizabeth A Sullivan2
  • 1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, ACT.
  • 2. Perinatal and Reproductive Epidemiology Research Unit, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence: steve.robson@act.gov.au

References

View this article on Wiley Online Library