Birth of a new era as St George Hospital’s Birth Unit opens

St George Hospital’s new state-of-the-art Birth Unit has opened and already welcomed dozens of new babies into the world, with nearly 60 babies arriving in the first 12 days.

Emanuele Giuffre was the first baby born in the unit, arriving at 9.43am on the first day of operations on Thursday 30 January, 2020, in one of the new birth rooms that has been carefully designed with thoughtful consideration to the needs of women during childbirth.

New parents Rosaria and Tano Giuffre said they felt very special that their baby was the first to be born in the new unit. “The rooms are so beautiful and relaxing, I feel very lucky,” Ms Giuffre said.

On the same morning, Arti Prasad gave birth to her daughter, who marked the end of an era as the last baby born in the old Delivery Suite, where tens of thousands of babies have been born since the 1970s.

Brad Hazzard, NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research; Mark Coure, Member for Oatley; Eleni Petinos, Member for Miranda and Melanie Gibbons, Member for Holsworthy attended the hospital to officially open and tour the new world-class facility on Monday 3 February, 2020.

“The NSW Government’s $11.5 million upgrade doubles the size of St George Hospital’s previous birth facilities so that more women in the local community can access world-class birth facilities and care close to home,” Mr Hazzard said.

The upgrade provides eight new birth rooms with deep baths for women in labour, two acute observation rooms and new neonatal monitoring technology.

The opening event was also attended by Vicki Weeden, Acting General Manager of St George Hospital, who said the new state-of-the-art facility will provide an exceptional level of care to approximately 2,300 women who give birth at the hospital each year.

“Our staff are very excited about the new Birth Unit, which is the latest addition to the hospital’s redevelopment and will allow us to continue to provide frontline health care to our community,” Ms Weeden said.

Lorena Matthews, Nurse and Midwife Manager, St George Hospital, said the new facilities were carefully designed to ensure the best experience for mothers and their new babies.

“The birth rooms were designed with women in mind, right down to the finer fixtures. To celebrate the opening of our new Birth Unit we are giving the first 100 babies born a special gift to mark the occasion,” Ms Matthews said.