Optimal birth outcomes from private care

Private maternity services deliver more optimal and safe birthing outcomes than public hospitals, according to a study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The peer-reviewed paper by health economist Emily Callander, from the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, looked at births in NSW, Queensland and Victoria between 2017 and 2019.

The study of 867,334 births is considered the largest dataset of Australian births ever examined.

It compared the birth outcomes for deliveries in the public hospital system to those in private health care and found the rate of stillbirth and neonatal deaths in public hospital deliveries is double the rate of newborn fatalities in the private system.

It also found higher adverse outcomes in three quarters of births that took place in standard public care, including:

• 2301 more neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions.
• 10,627 maternal haemorrhages; and
• 3273 more women with 3rd and fourth degree perineal tears.

Costs to all funders in Australian dollars per pregnancy were also higher in standard public maternity care.

The study highlighted disparities between the models of care and the need for more research into the underlying drivers.

It also confirms the important role private maternity services play in delivering babies in Australia, at a time when these services are declining around the country.

The Sydney Adventist Hospital experience

The Sydney Adventist Hospital (the San) has been helping to deliver babies for more than 120-years, welcoming around 100,000 babies into the world.

It is renowned for the exceptional maternity experience it offers, with world-class specialists and inviting architecturally designed maternity facilities to give each mother the best possible birthing experience and their child the best start in life.

The San is also the only hospital in NSW to offer mothers the option of a night-time nursery staffed by midwives, if they wish to use.

In recent years, close to 2000 babies have been born at the San each year, with an increasing number from the Central Coast. As of this month (July 2025), more than 12 per cent of the San’s preadmission maternity bookings were from this region. This follows the closure of Gosford Private Hospital’s maternity services earlier this year.