Mayor warns government: Families won’t come to the bush if they can’t have babies close to home

She was forced to deliver her son by the roadside, now a rural NSW mayor is championing bringing maternity services back to the bush.

Yass Mayor Jasmin Jones at the Yass District Hospital. In 2011 she gave birth on the side of the Barton Highway because Yass Hospital was forced to close down its birthing unit five years earlier. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Jasmin Jones gave birth by the side of the Barton Highway in 2011, delivering her son in the back of an ambulance on the ACT/NSW border.

The maternity unit at her local hospital in Yass had closed five years earlier, meaning a race to Canberra was necessary – until third child Apollo forced an unwanted mid-trip stop.

Now as Mayor of Yass Valley Council, the mother of five is campaigning to return birthing services to the bush and says her border town would be the ideal prototype for a “much-needed” restoration project.

One in two birthing units in regional and rural NSW have closed since 1990 while before arrival births have doubled in northern NSW and tripled in the state’s west during the same time frame. Chronic understaffing of doctors and midwives has been blamed for the widespread closures.

But in a town projected to see a population increase from 18,000 to 28,000 by 2036, Ms Jones says mothers-to-be in Yass deserve better and the lack of a birthing unit will be a barrier to attracting new residents.

“Our community is forecast to grow substantially and this is not rocket science,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “If you build a maternity facility, you create a sound base for every other service. It is the bread and butter for communities.

“I arrived in a town that lost its birthing unit and to claw it back you’ve got to have the stamina of an Olympic athlete. Once you lose a birthing service there are not too many government departments that want to reignite it.

Mayor Jasmin Jones is calling on the State Government to let Yass Hospital become the template for a restoration of maternity units in the bush as the population of the town is set to rise from 18,000 to 28,000 by 2036. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“You can understand why in some bush towns the doctors that deliver babies are treated like Hollywood stars. We need more hospitals where mothers can deliver. Otherwise families won’t come to rural areas.

“Women will be frightened to leave the cities where they’ve got a known support network to go somewhere that doesn’t have the same level of maternity care.”

Mayor Jasmin Jones has urged NSW Premier Chris Minns to release the plan for new hospital services in Yass. Picture: Martin Ollman

Ms Jones has won a singular battle.

“We had no pre or post-natal care when I came to Yass in 2011,” she added. “It resulted in a clinical review and the opportunity to go for a grant under a rural and remote scheme. We ended up with a part time midwife. Now we have a full-time service.”

There is also a $4.7 million mother’s hub, expected to commence construction later this year with enhanced maternity services. But a birthing unit remains the as yet unattainable goal.

“Premier Minns came out pre-election and committed to a $250,000 investigation of new hospital services in Yass that would include maternity upgrades,” Ms Jones said.

“That investigation, that plan, has been sitting in draft form … first with the department, then with the Health Minister, and now back with the department. They need to release it and own the results one way or the other.

“The election commitment was clear to us. They were going to investigate future services. And where better than Yass to lead the charge on restoring much needed birthing services to the bush. It would create a quantum leap change for the regions.”

The Health Minister has been approached for comment.

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