St John of God launch new 'affordable' maternity service as part of revamp

The news comes after the private hospital put its original maternity service under review, due to a drop in demand.

The new model, called Joy, will be led by the hospitals midwives and will be offered alongside the traditional obstetrician-led service.

Hospital chief executive Michael Hogan said the review highlighted patients' concerns about cost.

"We received a lot of feedback that out-of-pocket expenses were too high and that's an issue across all of Australia," he said.

"We know that many young couples struggle with the cost of private health insurance and we want to help them at one of the most joyful moments in their lives."

The new model would start at $990 and would involve new mums staying three nights in a private room with on-site access to lactation consultants and "restaurant-quality" meals made to order.

The price would not include ultrasounds, pharmacy, paediatrician or anaesthetists fees.

The traditional model enabled patients to have their own private obstetrician who would provide care throughout pregnancy, labour and post-natally.

Mr Hogan said he was optimistic the new service would result in more people choosing to have their baby at St John of God.

In October 2023, Mr Hogan said the hospital was about 100 births short of the maternity ward remaining viable.

"What we're hoping is that this program will deliver us the extra births we need," he said.

"We probably need 80 to 100 extra births a year. It's not a lot in the overall scheme of things, but we're pretty confident that this program will deliver that."

Mr Hogan said the review consolidated the hospital's midwives' commitment to the organisation.

It showed how committed they're to the model of private midwifery and private services," he said.

"We're really pleased with that and we're pleased that they've hung on.

They're also excited about the opportunity with this affordable model because they get to do some things they haven't done before... [and] to spend a lot more time with those mums to be."

Maternity nurse unit manager Nicole Harris said staff were pleased with the outcome of the review.

"We're very excited about this and we're excited about its potential to retain a viable private maternity service in Bendigo," she said.

"All the midwives enjoy what we do, and we'd love to see more parents choose St John of God for their happy occasion."

The hospital's ICU ward has also been under review since October.

Mr Hogan said that service had seen "a sustained increase" since then.

"We are in a very good place in regard to ICU at the moment, which is great," he said.

"We had a bit more commitment from some of our surgeons and other physicians in town to support the unit and more complex patients being brought to our hospital, so we are very happy."