Healthscope, the country’s second-largest hospital operator, will close maternity units in Darwin and Hobart due to workforce shortages and falling birth rates, in the latest blow to the $22 billion private hospital industry which is warning of more shutdowns without government help.

The Coalition seized on the closures to accuse Labor of failing to take action to stop the shutdown of critical health services, while Health Minister Mark Butler said the onus was on health insurers and hospital operators to work together.