A grandmother of newborn twins born at the Lyell McEwin Hospital has warned the Premier he will need to boost the mental health budget for stressed mothers after her son-in-law was denied access to his babies and wife.
Rae O'Malley told ABC Radio Adelaide her daughter had given birth to twins at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, in Adelaide's northern suburbs, on Tuesday.
Her son-in-law was in hospital with his wife in the lead up to the birth and was present for the birth of the twins.
However, when he returned to the hospital the following day to help his wife, he was told to leave after four hours.
"He turned up yesterday [Wednesday] morning at 8 o'clock, of course to help because there's not a lot of staff, and he was asked to fill in a form with what time he had arrived," Ms O'Malley said.
"He was a bit puzzled because nobody had said anything to him so he just proceeded to the private room. Four hours later there was a knock at the door to tell him that he had to go."
Ms O'Malley said he tried to protest, but thinking he'd be able to return the following morning, he left so as not to upset his wife.
When he tried to return to the hospital on Thursday morning, he was told he would not be allowed back in until his wife was discharged.
Earlier this month, the Lyell McEwin Hospital implemented a COVID policy that would only allow partners to be present for the birth of their baby and the following four hours.
The policy was heavily criticised and Premier Steven Marshall at the time said he sympathised with expectant parents.
"I can't imagine not being at a partner's side during such an important time in their lives," he said.
The policy was later overturned with the hospital saying, "while final decisions were still being made", a support person would be allowed throughout an induction, the duration of labour and birth of a baby.
A week ago, the hospital said parents would also be allowed to "visit their newborn baby every day" but how long those visits would be and how long partners could stay after the birth was not announced.
However, Ms O'Malley said it seemed the policy had not been overturned.
"It hasn't been reversed, they promised us and it hasn't been done," Ms O'Malley said.
Ms O'Malley said her daughter was leaving hospital on Thursday in the hope to get support from her family, as there was little support available to her in hospital.
"She's probably not ready to come out today, but she will because this is the only way she will get the support that she needs [and] that's from her family."
Ms O'Malley said her son-in-law is vaccinated and was willing to comply with any testing requirements but was never asked to undertake any.
She said it had been made more difficult for the family as they thought the policy had been overturned and had not been expecting visits to be limited.
"To have it taken away at that critical time after giving birth was not great," Ms O'Malley said.
"Everyone at the hospital is brilliant, but they're under lots of pressure and they don't need this either.
"It's too late for my daughter, but if I can help anyone else and let them know what they are doing there … it's happened to us unexpectedly."
Ms O'Malley's son-in-law has been allowed back into the hospital to collect his wife after she was discharged.
In a statement, SA Health said visitor limits are in place across all hospitals to limit the risk of infection of COVID-19 and protect patients, staff and visitors.
"We know these limits can be difficult for patients in some circumstances and exceptions are made for compassionate reasons," the statement read.
"These restrictions are to protect the health and safety of parents and new babies in our care, particularly while the northern suburbs has relatively low vaccination rates and high incidence of COVID-19."
In the statement, SA Health said physical distancing requirements, patient flow, and the location and size of the maternity units at the Lyell McEwin means visitors need to be limited.
