Pressure mounts for Yvette D’Ath to resign over maternity crisis

Queensland’s top health bureaucrat says he does not believe there is a crisis around maternity services in some parts of the state. It comes as Health Minister Yvette D’Ath is accused of downplaying the role of obstetricians in local births.

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Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has been accused of being clueless about Queensland’s maternity services after an extraordinary press conference where she bizarrely claimed that obstetricians were only needed at five to 10 per cent of births.

The most recent official data shows that more 45 per cent of Queensland births did actually require an obstetrician.

It comes as the state’s top health bureaucrat this morning said he didn’t think there was a crisis surrounding maternity services in some parts of the state.

“But … if we don’t change how many people we are training, have a look at all of the models around how we can support stronger midwifery models in the next 10 years, we absolutely will be in crisis,” Queensland Health director-general Shaun Drummond told the ABC.

Mr Drummond said the buck stopped with him.

Queensland Health Director-General Shaun Drummond said he could not say when services will improve in Gladstone. Picture: NCA NewsWire/John Gass

He said that Queensland Health had been caught short in terms of the number of people that were being trained.

He said Queensland did not have the specialists to meet demand, and he was unable to say when Gladstone women would be able to give birth at their local hospital.

On Wednesday Yvette D’Ath in response to the spiralling Gladstsone maternity crisis made the bombshell claims that obstetricians “may be needed for about five or 10 per cent of births, maybe even less than that” — five times less than the official federal data.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare numbers show that in Queensland in 2020 36.9 per cent of births were C-sections, 7.5 per cent required vacuum intervention and 2.7 were forcep deliveries — all of which need the skills of an obstetrician.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath is facing mounting pressure over the state’s maternity crisis. Picture: NCA Newswire / Dan Peled

Obstetrician and president of the National Association of NASOG Gino Pecoraro has said that the Minister’s data is nowhere near reality.

“Midwives are worth their weight in gold but are simply not trained in many procedures. Many births require a specialist obstetrician. In 2020 the data shows more than 47 per cent — a far cry from the five to 10 per cent quoted by the Health Minister,” Prof Pecoraro said.

Another medical source told The Courier-Mail that the five to 10 per cent quoted by the Health Minister wouldn’t fly in most Third World countries.

Ms D’Ath also said that the role of obstetrician “is significantly reducing”.

“Now part of the problem that has been developing over a number of years with the evolution of the role of midwives, with mothers and birthing mums making decisions that they want the midwife taking control of that birth, is we’re seeing the role of the obstetrician is significantly reducing,” she said.

“And that also includes the actual number of births and the diversity of what they’re doing is reducing as far as their registration. Now they have to maintain a certain level to keep their registration and to keep their skill level,” Ms D’Ath said.

AMAQ President Maria Boulton. Picture: Supplied

The Australian Medical Association Queensland president Maria Boulton said obstetricians are integral in the running of safe hospital maternity services.

“It takes a team to deliver babies — parents, nurses, paediatricians, midwives, anaesthetists and obstetricians. In rural and remote communities, GP obstetricians and GP anaesthetists are also integral to maternity teams. It’s important obstetricians are part of maternity team, for everyone’s safety and support,” she said.

“I met with Health Minister Yvette D’Ath again on Tuesday about the situation in Central Queensland. I stressed the importance of making sure Queensland Health is supporting

staff across all regional maternity units so that we don’t see more maternity crises.

We also discussed the urgency of building a long-term, sustainable workforce plan for maternity services across Queensland and the Minister acknowledged that should

involve all professions including obstetricians and GP obstetricians, anaesthetists and GP anaesthetists, midwives, nurses and paediatricians,” Dr Boulton said.

As the Gladstone maternity crisis heightens, Ms D’Ath is facing pressure to resign. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has slammed the Gladstone situation as “disastrous”, calling for Ms D’Ath to be removed as Health Minister.

“It’s clear that she has presided over disaster upon disaster,” Mr Dutton said at a press conference Wednesday morning.

“Regional Queenslanders pay taxes like those of us do in the cities, and they should expect not a Third World service but a service which is going to provide the best outcome for them and their kids. I don’t think Yvette D’Ath is up to the job.”

“You’ve now got a situation where doctors are calling this government out.”

“The health minister’s position is untenable. Even Steven Miles recognises that, and it should be the first step frankly that Annastacia Palaszczuk takes when she’s back from holidays,” he said.

In a stunning Courier-Mail poll result, 95 per cent of subscribers said they wanted the Health Minister sacked. The poll conducted on the Courier-Mail website on Tuesday attracted more than 3700 respondents.

Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates told The Courier-Mail that Ms D’Ath’s obstetricians comments are “the mother of all stuff ups by the Palaszczuk Government”.

“For the embattled Health Minister to talk down the importance of our frontline health workers like obstetricians is quite frankly offensive and disgraceful. How can Queensland mothers have confidence in this Minister?”