Report to suggest changes for WA hospitals

A review into Perth hospitals will recommend Bentley's maternity unit be shut down, but the state's director general for health says mothers using the facility now should still feel safe.

Media reports suggested there were safety concerns with Bentley Hospital, but West Australian Health Director General David Russell-Weisz disagreed with the claim, saying the facility provided excellent care.

"Mothers and babies who have been born there, or are about to be born there, should be reassured the service is safe," he said on Sunday.

Dr Russell-Weisz said a government report conducted by an experienced and independent obstetrician would be released on Monday, providing several recommendations about Perth's maternity hospitals.

While one recommendation was that obstetrics should be shut down at Bentley Hospital, he said the review was more far reaching than that and covered how WA should provide obstetrics in the future.

He said there were newer hospitals that had more modern facilities than Bentley, but overall, efficiency needed to be improved.

"We know that we are over-staffed and over budget at some of our hospitals," he said.

"It's about simple things like rostering, overtime, the use of agencies and casuals.

"Where there are too many staff, it may be looking at (not renewing) some fixed-term appointments, but it is not all about job cuts."