Gladstone Hospital crisis: Maternity advocates slam government for C-section preference
The opposition has slammed the Health Minister “a failure” who should have been sacked “months ago” over Queensland’s maternity crisis, after it was revealed expectant mums are so fearful of travelling to give birth that they are demanding elective C-sections.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The opposition has slammed Health Minister Yvette D’Ath as “a failure” who should have been sacked “months ago” over Central Queensland’s maternity crisis.
It comes after The Sunday Mail reported expectant mums from Gladstone were so fearful of travelling to Rockhampton to give birth that they are demanding elective C-sections, and that the crisis had been labelled “a national disgrace”.
“What we’re seeing today is mothers in Gladstone have little choice, the only choices they have is to have a caesarean-section which they may or may not need medically, or run the risk of giving birth on the side of the road,” LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates said.
“What sort of choice and what sort of state are we now living in that that is now what mothers in Gladstone are forced to deal with every day?”
Ms Bates questioned why Gladstone Hospital could not recruit extra staff to ease the crisis.
“Is it because the doctors have no faith in the Queensland Health system at the moment or the Minister presiding over all of it?”
LNP state leader David Crisafulli said regional mothers were being forced to play “Russian roulette” by driving to Rockhampton to have their baby, risking a roadside birth.
“Surely in the modern era we shouldn’t be pulling services away from major centres, we should be improving them,” he said.
“It’s been 100 days since the local MP (Glenn Butcher, who is also State Minister for
Regional Development and Manufacturing) said he would resign if it wasn’t fixed and it’s been six months since the hospital went on bypass and still mums can’t give birth in the city.”
Acting Premier Steven Miles on Sunday could not confirm when Gladstone Hospital would come off bypass.
EDITORIAL: Hospital’s dire situation has gone on too long
The Sunday Mail had spoken to mothers who were petrified they would not make the 100km journey to Rockhampton in time and are now taking the drastic action.
Obstetrics advocates say Queensland Health’s failure to reinstate full maternity services in Gladstone has forced women to make impossible choices as they are “devastated at the options on offer”.
Between January 1 and July 7 last year, Queensland Health recorded 30 elective caesarean births in Gladstone. Since the full maternity bypass began on July 8, the hospital has recorded 20 elective C-sections up to January 13, it says. But state Health Minister Yvette D’Ath only allowed those planned procedures to resume three months ago, on October 14.
Gladstone, which looked after 900 women antenatally last year, is now offering elective C-sections but on limited days as other women continue to be sent to Rockhampton, the new epicentre of maternity in the region.
Maternity Consumer Network’s Alecia Staines said the trend away from natural births was only just getting started as women became more aware of the “trauma and uncertainty” involved in having a baby in Central Queensland.
“C-sections are not a walk in the park and come with surgical risks,” she said. “When a woman has a C-section it makes it more difficult for her to have a natural birth in subsequent pregnancies.
“There is the healing time following the surgery and never mind that the mothers of Gladstone are young and most of them had dreams of a birth without intervention.
“They are devastated at the options on offer to them.”
Mothers say they don’t want to leave other children at home or don’t have family to look after them if they are forced to travel.
Many are also worried about out-of-pocket costs for a motel when they arrive in Rockhampton if they are not ready for labour, and are also deterred by the long journey home the day after the birth.
In 2021, the state government announced it was developing a “normal birth strategy” and held a Normal Birth Symposium to develop a plan to reduce unnecessary C-sections in public hospitals.
In 2020, 30 per cent of births in Queensland public hospitals involved caesarean births – twice the World Health Organisation recommendation.
Kirsten Stanley, 31, who lives 40 minutes from Gladstone, told The Sunday Mail it was an easier option for her to ask for an elective caesarean in her home town and remove the fears and chance of something going wrong.
“I had heard of awful stories of Rockhampton being short-staffed and staff being so overwhelmed that Gladstone women didn’t feel welcome there,” the mum of 10-week-old Shelby told The Sunday Mail.
“I desperately didn’t want to have the baby in the car or on the highway.
“At my 39-week antenatal appointment I just said ‘please give me a caesarean’ and they booked me in right away. I wouldn’t say I was forced into a C-section but I felt that it was the safest and easiest option for me.
“I was part of the Midwifery Group Practice program at Gladstone and had good care there.
“Many women in the region do not have family who can jump in and look after other kids while they travel to Rockhampton. The bypass has put everyone in a difficult position and, yes, a C-section is an easier option.”
Ms Staines said the situation in the region had hit new critical levels.
“The ongoing saga that is maternity services in Gladstone is a national disgrace,” she said.
“In over a decade of advocacy, I’ve not seen a maternity service of this size so grossly mismanaged and put on bypass for so long.
“The federal government needs to step in and revoke Queensland’s funding for maternity services until they can fix this mess.
“No woman should be forced to have a caesarean to ensure she can birth in her home town.”
Well-known obstetrician Gino Pecoraro, president of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has warned that maternity services offered in Queensland are in the worst state he has ever seen.
“The time for talking has passed and urgent action is needed to repair what has become a medical emergency, and must surely be a source of great embarrassment to the Premier and Health Minister of this state,” he said.
“Obstetricians will always support women’s wishes when it comes to how their babies are delivered, provided the safety of mother and baby is preserved and the woman is freely making an informed decision. However, having a caesarean section because health departmental failures have resulted in long-term inadequate staffing of a maternity unit is not the right reason for surgery.
“Especially in large regional centres like Gladstone, which are responsible for the production of a significant amount of the state’s income and wealth and where specialist staff once resided and worked until the collapse of the private sector led to overburden on the public sector.”
The obstetrician, who is also the former president of the Australian Medical Association of Queensland, said it was time for the federal health department and minister to become personally involved and help the “floundering state government sort out the mess”.
Rural Doctors of Australia Queensland president Matt Masel said rural generalists were part of the solution to the maternity crisis.
“Rural generalists should be recognised as equally important as other specialists to the system-wide goal of safe maternity services as close to home as possible,” Dr Masel said.
“They provide the medical cover for rural units across Queensland but as a location becomes larger, the rural generalists are often moved out when specialists move in.
“This is not necessary and undermines sustainable care. Queensland needs to learn from collaborative models that operate successfully in other states of Australia.”
Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service chief executive Emma McCahon said Rockhampton Hospital had safe staff levels in the Maternity Unit.
She also said CQ Health had recruited four obstetricians who were due to arrive throughout this year.
Acting Premier Steven Miles on Sunday could not confirm when Gladstone Hospital would come off bypass.
“We’re recruiting more obstetricians. We’ve appointed four new obstetricians into the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service, and as they take up those positions we’ll be able to deliver more maternity services throughout that region,” he said.
When asked where they would be based he said that was “still to be determined”.
“It’s been very challenging to recruit maternity staff into Gladstone. But now that CQHHS has recruited four additional obstetricians, they’ll be able to deliver closer to the services that we aspire to,” he said.
When asked about a timeline to return to Gladstone Mr Miles said the government was working through the details of when the new recruits would be in place and where they would be placed.
“It’s a very tight labour market for every profession, including for medical professionals, but we’ll continue to seek to recruit all the staff that we need. As international borders continue to open up we’ll have more opportunity to recruit from overseas as well,” he said.
“We already have very attractive packages for our medical professionals. I suspect that now that we can recruit more easily from overseas we’ll be able to fill some of those positions.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Gladstone Hospital crisis: Maternity advocates slam government for C-section preference
Join the conversation
Negotiators, SERT called in, suburb shut down after shots fired at police
Specialist police and negotiators were in a stand-off with an armed person and part of a suburb was shut down south of Brisbane late on Friday night after shots were fired at officers tracking an allegedly stolen car.
Read more
Exclusive poll: Premier’s one-point miracle not enough to save Labor
An exclusive Courier-Mail poll reveals Steven Miles has pulled off a miracle comeback in the battle as preferred premier, but it appears unlikely to save Labor from a wipe-out on October 26.
Read more