Negotiations by the West Coast District Health Board have secured access for West Coast women requiring elective caesarean sections at St George Hospital in Christchurch.
This new arrangement will alleviate the need for coast women to travel the long distance to Dunedin for birth of their babies. District Health Board hospitals in Christchurch and Nelson are working to capacity and have been unable to assist the West Coast DHB in providing this elective service.
Mothers who are recommended to leave the West Coast for the birth of their babies, and for whom caesarean births are not expected, will continue to travel to Christchurch. Complicated, tertiary level caesareans will continue to be carried out at Christchurch Women's Hospital.
For more information please contact
Bryan Jamieson
Community Liaison Officer
West Coast DHB
PO Box 387
Greymouth 7840
Phone (DDI): (03) 769-7665
Mobile: 027 245-9595
Email: