Gladstone Hospital enters phase two of maternity bypass services fix
Nearly 200 days after a full birthing bypass was declared at the Gladstone Hospital, the maternity ward could soon provide 24/7 emergency cover.
Regional News
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Nearly 200 days after a full birthing bypass was declared at the Gladstone Hospital, the maternity ward will within weeks provide 24/7 emergency cover after the health service secured another locum doctor.
On Thursday, the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service informed the community it had secured an additional locum obstetrician which would see the return of full-time emergency obstetrics.
However, most women will still have to travel 100km to birth at Rockhampton.
CQHHS chief executive Emma McCahon said in a statement securing the locum took months of negotiations.
“What that means is that we expect to enter phase two, return to maternity services at Gladstone Hospital within a couple of weeks,” Dr McCahon said.
The announcement is stage-two of the three-step plan to return full birthing services to Gladstone.
It comes after planned cesarean sections returned to the regional hospital in October as part of stage-one.
Dr McCahon said the birthing bypass would remain while the health service secures more specialists.
“This means an obstetrician will be available for expectant mothers during obstetric emergencies that cannot be managed by the midwives on shift and when the patient cannot be transferred safely,” she said.
“Phase to means 24/7 emergency care will be available for expectant mothers.”
The move comes after Acting Premier Steven Miles announced on Monday the CQHHS had secured four additional obstetricians to be shared across the region‘s hospitals in Rockhampton and Gladstone by mid-year.
Save Gladstone Maternity Ward advocate Jemma Manwaring said she was disappointed as the announcement had no clear timelines and would still see women undertaking a dangerous journey north to give birth.
“We don’t see this as a reliable update, we continue to see a pattern of staff being allocated to Gladstone and then redeployed to cover Rockhampton,” Mrs Manwaring said.
“There is still no commitment from the government that Gladstone will receive funding based on the 600 births a year which we have done consistently before this bypass.
“Additionally, we still have no idea how CQHHS are recruiting these specialists, we have not seen any ads and still have many questions unanswered.”
Mrs Manwaring said the community wanted to see experienced specialists recruited for the long-term stability of the ward and did not want the health service recruiting only recent graduates.
Gladstone MP Glenn Butcher has dug his heels in and celebrated the update of emergency cover at the local maternity ward.
“CQ Health has officially signed a locum contract with a specialist obstetrician, who is expected to start at Gladstone Hospital by the beginning of February,” Mr Butcher said.
“I was personally involved in finding a solution with this healthcare provider so I’m glad it’s been fruitful.
“It hasn’t been appropriate to share the intimate details of negotiations, but Gladstone locals have trusted me since 2015 and they will be able to trust me long into the future. I will always fight for this region.”
Mr Butcher said his focus was now on stage three, which he was confident was not “far off” following recent obstetric recruitment for CQHHS.
Pressure has been mounting on the state’s Health Minister Yvette D’Ath to take action over the situation, with calls for her resignation.
Minister 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.
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