Queensland is compassionate, Premier insists, after unborn baby's death

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk insists her health services are acting compassionately following the death of an unborn baby in a NSW hospital.

A woman living in Ballina in northern NSW needed urgent surgery for one of her twins last week, who were at 24 weeks' gestation.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says her health authorities act with compassion, following the death of a baby in a NSW hospital.

The woman’s father, Allan Watt, who also lives in Ballina, said it would have taken too long to “jump through the hoops” to enter Queensland, and so his daughter had to be sent to Sydney instead.

“She had to wait 16 hours for an aeroplane at Lismore and they flew her to Sydney where she had an operation within hours of arriving” Mr Watt told 4BC radio on Friday morning.

“Baby A’s blood flow increased, she became anaemic and died."

Baby A had been considered the healthier of the two babies. The mother and the second baby are now being monitored in Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

“My daughter and her husband are stuck down there having to pay their mortgage, plus pay rent for an apartment in Sydney,” Mr Watt said.

“It’s busted our family apart, I’m up here [in Ballina], and her sisters and brothers are in Queensland.”

Brisbane Times understands the woman would not have needed an exemption to travel to Queensland because her case was considered emergency care but her family members would have had to apply for an exemption to enter the state.

Ms Palaszczuk said the death was an “absolute tragedy” but her health authorities' decision and rejected suggestions they acted without compassion.

“There’s a woman who’s grieving and many know what that feels like. If clinicians make an urgent decision about where to go, that will be made in the best interests of that young person,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said she could not go into the specifics of the case for privacy reasons but said it was “very sad”.

Dr Young said emergency care was still being offered to people from northern NSW in the same way it had been throughout the pandemic and before.

“Anyone can come across the border in an emergency. The police do not stop ambulances, they do not stop LifeFlight helicopters,” she said.

“Queensland provides emergency services to the northern part of NSW and none of that has changed.”

Dr Young said people with no previous medical connection to Queensland should seek treatment within NSW if they could.

“If you need new care, you’ve got a new issue, then it makes absolute sense, if you don’t have a relationship with doctors in Queensland, it makes sense to go somewhere in NSW,” Dr Young said.

“Whenever possible you should get care where you live. You shouldn’t travel for hours.”

Wayne Jones, chief executive of the Northern NSW Local health District, released a short statement on Friday afternoon saying a Brisbane hospital was the family's "preferred location" for the operation.

"Under the queensland border direction at the time, the woman and her partner would have had to quarantine at a government hotel for 14 days, at their own expense, prior to the procedure," Mr Jones wrote.

"Following discussions with Royal Prince Alfred specialists in Sydney, the woman travelled to Sydney for the procedure where she would not be required to quarantine."

Queensland Health issued a clarification last week after the mother’s story came to light, specifying that people could enter Queensland “by road, rail or air from a hot spot for essential healthcare without an exemption when the healthcare cannot be provided in the hot spot”.