West Australian Health Minister Kim Hames has responded to public pressure, and says the maternity unit at Perth’s Bentley Hospital will stay open.

The issue was sparked when Dr Hames announced the closure of the ward following a review led by senior obstetrician Con Michael.

Dr Michael’s report found there was no way to guarantee the safety of caesarean deliveries at the hospital, which had no senior staff rostered on after hours.

The hospital in Perth’s south is “an unsatisfactory facility that is badly in need of refurbishing” that is “not conducive to establishing a different and safe contemporary model of care”, the review said.

At the time, Dr Hames said services would relocate to Fiona Stanley Hospital [FSH] so that the “old and tired” 23-bed Bentley ward could be closed.

But the Health minister now says that a “broad spectrum of the community” had informed him it made “no sense” to close the Bentley Hospital unit.

“The Bentley maternity unit safely delivered 1,060 babies in 2015,” he said

“I understand from talking to staff and patients at the hospital, that it is strongly patronised and favoured by the local community, with the bulk of births supported by general practice obstetricians and experienced midwives.

“The State Government has made the decision that maternity services at Bentley will remain available subject to ongoing operational and cost-efficiency reviews and in mid-2018, we will again review the model.”

He said it was decided that the state needed all the maternity facilities it could get.

The Australian Medical Association welcomed the decision.

“It was not the right time to ask Fiona Stanley Hospital to do another 1,000 births,” AMA state president Michael Gannon said.

“We need a very careful and considered plan that takes into account the whole system and the ability to provide the safest possible care and where possible, close to where people live.”