Combined effort helps ease national shortage of critical maternal health product

Priority shipments of a product used in critical maternal health interventions have been sent to Victoria and other states after a concerted effort by HSV and government agencies to resolve supply issues.

HSV first became aware of a supply issue with the Bakri uterine balloon – used to control postpartum bleeding - in late June when concerns were raised by a health service.

Postpartum uterine bleeding is a serious complication of childbirth and a leading cause of maternal death. Around 50 Bakri balloons are used in Victorian maternity hospitals each month.

After meeting with HSV, supplier Cook Medical confirmed that a shortage of raw materials would impact supplies of the lifesaving device to Australia until October.

Investigations by HSV’s Supply Chain Surety team revealed Victorian health services held between two and eight weeks of supply, while the stock outage was estimated to last for 13 weeks. Other states including New South Wales and Queensland were also at risk.

With September being peak season on Australian maternity wards, there was added pressure to resolve the issue quickly.

HSV alerted the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Department of Health, and a clinical working group was formed to review postpartum haemorrhage guidelines and manage the risk.

HSV Supply Chain Surety Director Kate Warren says the coordinated response by HSV and the TGA resulted in urgent shipments being sent to Victoria.

“We helped them to understand how critical it was to get stock into Australia because of the high risk involved,” she says.

Kate says the fast response to the shortage highlights that supply chain surety processes are working as they should.

“Because we knew about this issue early, we were able to manage it quickly and in the appropriate way.”

HSV also met with an alternate supplier which renewed its sponsorship to send shipments of the product to Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, easing pressure on national supplies.

HSV’s centralised reporting system and its broad network of contacts were vital in achieving a successful outcome. The team was able to make sure health services with low stock of the Bakri balloons received priority supplies, Kate says. 

“We were receiving weekly reports of stock on hand from health services so we could divert supply to health services that needed it most.”

While reports are compiled manually, the team is exploring ways to automate and streamline the process for health services.

Current stock levels are adequate to meet demand until normal supplies resume in October 2023. The Bakri balloon has been identified as a critical product through the Critical Supplies Register project and mitigation strategies to prevent further shortages are being reviewed.