Ballarat Health Services
Ballarat Health Services is located at 1 Drummond St N, Ballarat Central VIC 3350. Over 1400 babies are born at the hospital’s Maternity Unit each year. They have a maternity outpatient unit that provides women with pregnancy care (antenatal care), childbirth education classes, and postnatal home visits after their babies are born.
Ballarat Health has three models of care: Midwife-led care for low-risk pregnancies and Obstetric-led care for women who are deemed to have a higher risk of pregnancy. Private Obstetric Care is where you can nominate to be a private patient, and a Private Obstetrician provides your care throughout your pregnancy.
Hospital Address
1 Drummond St N, Ballarat Central VIC 3350
03 5320 4000
Website Ballarat Health Services – Maternity
Ballarat Health Services Map
Ballarat Health Services
Midwifery Antenatal Clinic
Ballarat Health Services has a midwifery-run antenatal clinic.
Preparation for Birth Classes
Ballarat Health Services offers preparation for birth classes.
Caseload Midwifery Practice
A caseload midwifery program is where one or two midwives care for you through pregnancy, birth and beyond. PBB is unsure if Ballarat Health Services offers this option.
Publicly funded homebirth program
Ballarat Health Services does not offer a free homebirth program for low risk women.
Parenting Classes
PBB is unsure if Ballarat Health Services offers parenting classes.
Breastfeeding Classes
Ballarat Health Services holds monthly breastfeeding information sessions.
Does Ballarat Health Services have visiting private midwives?
UNKNOWN
Does Ballarat Health Services have visiting GP Obstetricians?
UNKNOWN
Does Ballarat Health Services have visiting Obstetricians?
YES
Hospital Facilities
Antenatal Beds
Birthing Rooms
Postnatal Beds
Special Care Nursery Beds
Neonatal Intensive Care Beds
Are there birth pools available for labour and birth?
Is warm water immersion available during labour? UNKNOWN
Is waterbirth an available option? UNKNOWN
Can I use an inflatable birth pool? UNKNOWN
Birth centres are designed to be a home away from home. A birth centre is a separate unit located away from the standard birth unit. Birth centres encompass a philosophy that pregnancy and birth are normal, natural events in the life of a woman and her family.
NO a birth centre is not available at this hospital.
Does Ballarat Health Services have a birth centre?
Birth Suite Tour Video
What support is available if I have difficulties breastfeeding my baby?
Breastfeeding/lactation clinic? YES
Lactation consultants on the postnatal ward? UNKNOWN
Accredited as a baby friendly hospital? YES
Baby-friendly accredited?
Ballarat Health Services is accredited under the global Baby Friendly Health Initiative program. The hospital supports breastfeeding, and lactation specialist midwives are on-hand to ensure babies are feeding well before going home.
Ballarat Health Services Statistics
PBB is unable to find separate statistics for individual hospitals in Victoria. The following statistics are from Victoria as a whole.
How a woman’s labour starts influences the chance interventions in labour. If labour starts spontaneously, there is less likelihood of interventions. In addition, if a woman has an induction of labour there is an increased chance of further interventions. In the above graph, spontaneous labour refers to labour that starts on its own. Furthermore, please note that Victoria’s statistics did not tell us if spontaneous labour is artificially sped up with medication or breaking of the bag of water. Therefore, this graph’s spontaneous labour includes labours sped up by medical intervention.
Induction of labour in PBB’s graph refers to one or more of the following interventions used to start labour:
- Artificial rupture of membranes
- Balloon catheter to open the cervix
- Prostaglandins placed in the vagina
- Synthetic oxytocin drug to start or speed up labour
No labour is when a woman has an elective (non-emergency) caesarean before labour starts.
There’s no available data on How Labour Started in 2015 and 2020. Please contact us if you have access to the statistics for the missing years.
Since 1985, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended countries keep the caesarean birth rate between 10–15% to ensure mortality rates are kept low for mothers and babies (WHO’s last statement update was April 2015). Since 1995 the cesarean birth rate has increased every year across Australia. In 2010 the Cesarean birth rate in Victoria was more than double the WHO recommendation.
A small number of breech babies are born vaginally. Instrumental births include forceps birth and vacuum extraction. The caesarean birth rate includes both elective (planned) and emergency (unplanned) caesarean births.
Please note that even though there is a dramatic increase in interventions in labour and caesarean birth – there is no change in the perinatal death rate.
PBB attained the data in the statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Photo Gallery
PBB has created this page to help you be informed about local maternity services. We’d love for you to send us photos of the hospital to include on this page. Send photos to our webmaster.
Date page published 6th September 2024
The post Ballarat Health Services appeared first on Pregnancy Birth and Beyond.
