The Prince of Wales Private Hospital,Randwick,is offering new mothers two nights'accommodation in a suite at the four-star Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach hotel,with the cost covered by private health insurance.
But the scheme has been criticised for putting cost-cutting before care.
The deal,the first of its kind in NSW,includes a beachfront room with king-size bed,plasma TV,five gourmet meals a day and the services of a live-in midwife. It costs about a third of the price of a private room at the hospital.
The hospital has refused to reveal how much it is paying for the rooms,but a spokeswoman for the hotel said yesterday its rack rate for a beachfront suite was $460 a night. The same room can be booked through discount accommodation websites for about $365 a night or $480 with dinner and breakfast,while a private room at the hospital costs $940 a night or $909 for a shared room.
The deal stands to make the hospital millions of dollars as health funds will reimburse the full cost of a stay in a hospital room,regardless of whether the patient chooses to move to a hotel partway through their care.
If a patient stays one night at the hospital and two nights at the hotel,health funds will still refund the hospital for three nights at $940 a night,allowing the hospital to pocket the $575-a-night difference.
But the general manager of Prince of Wales Private,Deborah Latta,yesterday denied the hospital would make money out of the scheme,saying"every fund reimburses us differently"and"I will not talk figures with you". But she did agree the deal would free up beds.
"We have huge demand for our beds and our birthrate is climbing,so yes,it does allow us to move people out more quickly,but these women,who are not necessarily sick,can have a nicer time in a hotel room than in hospital and they will have the support of a midwife to help them with breastfeeding and other issues. It has worked well in Melbourne and Adelaide,so I don't see why it can't work here,"Ms Latta said.
Patients who have the approval of their obstetrician and pediatrician can move to the hotel within a day of giving birth and those who have had a caesarean can relocate on day three.
But the deal has frustrated the Australian College of Midwives,which says the scheme should be properly evaluated before it is put into place.
"Hospitals should be looking at the advantages of providing midwifery care in a woman's home rather than spending money on hotel rooms,"a midwife,Hannah Dahlen,said.
"A continuity of care program can save on costs and give women support in an optimal environment,which is their own home,in their own beds with their own pillows."
Nicole Hebden,40,of Matraville,gave birth to her third child,Ellie,on Sunday afternoon and spent last night in a suite at the hotel for some peace and quiet away from her two toddlers.
"It's great to be out of the hospital environment for a night before you go home. I plan to make the most of it,"she said.