Health Minister Yvette D’Ath announces maternity services will return to Gladstone

Maternity services will return to Gladstone for the first time in three months, the Health Minister has announced.

Three months after Gladstone Hospital’s maternity services were put on bypass, some local mothers will again be able to give birth in their own town from Friday.

But only expectant mothers able to undergo planned caesareans will be accepted under the first stage of the return of services, with Health Minister Yvette D’Ath unable to say when other services would be back online.

Gladstone’s local maternity unit has been on bypass since July 8 with mothers in the city – which has a population of about 60,000 people – forced to travel 90 minutes to Rockhampton.

On Thursday Ms D’Ath said she had been advised the first stage of services would return on Friday, which would be planned caesareans by appointment.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“The second stage would be reinstating birth services where we can be sure that there’s 24/7 cover for emergency services.

“And then the third is the return of all usual services.”

More than 100 people attended a community forum last month arguing for birthing services to return, while last week LNP leader David Crisafulli travelled to the city to host a health crisis town hall on the issue.

The Queensland Nurses’ Union has also raised concerns on the impact the bypass had had on other areas of the hospital.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates said anything short of fully-restored birthing services for the mothers of Gladstone “isn’t good enough”.

“Merely reinstating planned caesarean sections is not a solution to this problem,” she said.

“It won’t stop babies being born on the side of the road putting the safety of mothers and their babies at risk.”

Ms Bates also expressed concerns women could be pushed or feel pressured into having unnecessary caesareans under the policy – a key finding of the Mackay Hospital report.

“The government shouldn’t be backing expectant mothers into a corner like this – they should have a clear choice on where and how they give birth,” she said.

“There’s one question every family in Gladstone needs answered - when will maternity services be fully restored?”

Earlier this week local Member for Gladstone and Cabinet minister Glenn Butcher said he was so confident services would return he would quit if they did not return.

“I’ll put my job on the line, if what the LNP is saying is true and we never get maternity services back … I will quit, simple as that,” he said.