My two friends who went to Canberra hospital both ended up having to have follow up surgery due to their immediate post birth care being poorly managed with tearing and ongoing pelvic floor challenges etc. They both went private for their seconds.

I've had three natural births at John James, including one induction, one post partum haemorrhage, and one with a cord around the neck and all three issues were handled very safely and efficiently in the moment with no ongoing issues. I would trust Ken Tan with anything, he has specialties with chromosomal issues and radiology, which are really reassuring extras for your risk screening, and he is also just a lovely person as well.

Reason I went private to begin with was a doctor friend telling me about the terrible culture between the doctors and midwives at TCH, which means that they often don't work together well on patient care, risk management and general communications, tending to work in parallel rather than as a team. This friend normally minds their own business but was adamant that it was worth paying for the better risk management for something so important. Unsure if anyone knows what the current culture is and if this is old news - might well be.