‘It’s not about dollars’: Qld govt defends ongoing maternity bypass

Queensland’s health minister is blaming a lack of doctors rather than a lack of funding for a maternity bypass preventing mothers from giving birth in Gladstone, with the issue expected to persist until midyear.

Most local women are prevented from giving birth in the Gladstone hospital, unless by elective caesarean.Credit: iStock

The central Queensland facility has already been on maternity bypass for more than six months, with the government saying that will continue until another four obstetricians can be recruited, which will likely be mid2023.

The bypass is preventing most local women from giving birth in the hospital, unless by elective caesarean, and they instead have to drive more than 100 kilometres to Rockhampton when they go into labour.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said it would be unsafe to restart full birthing services at Gladstone until all 10 obstetrician positions were filled at the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service.

“What would be unacceptable is if we sought to bring those services back online in an unsafe way, we cannot do that,” she told reporters.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath: “It is about a lack of obstetricians nationally right now.”Credit: Brisbane Times

“I have to take the advice as the minister in ensuring that these services are reintroduced in a safe way. I’m being told that we need 10 FTEs, full-time equivalents, across Rockhampton and Gladstone.”

Local health authorities have been trying to recruit obstetricians but face intense competition due to shortages of specialist doctors both domestically and internationally.

Some candidates had even signed contracts but then had to walk away a week before they were due to start “due to other circumstances”.

D’Ath said she already knew Acting Premier Steven Miles wanted to meet her about the staffing issues before he said on Monday it was unacceptable “that a town like Gladstone does not have a sufficient range of maternity services”.

The minister said she had been briefed regularly on the situation at Gladstone by her own director-general Shaun Drummond, most recently on January 9.

“So, no, I wasn’t surprised. I would have been surprised if the acting premier hadn’t wanted to talk to me and get an update of what was happening,” D’Ath said.

“What I welcome is the government at the most senior level saying anything else we can do to help the Department of Health and Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service to bring these services online as quickly as possible ... you know it’s not about dollars.

“You know if it was that simple, you know, we would have the obstetricians there.

“It is about a lack of obstetricians nationally right now, and particular challenges at that hospital due to personal circumstances and a range of reasons why other obstetricians who were there had to move on.”

– AAP