Women with lifelong trauma due to inadequate care say a forum to discuss a review into the Mackay Base Hospital has left them with more questions.
About a dozen women met with Health Minister Yvette D'Ath and representatives from the Mackay Hospital and Health Service after an investigation into the hospital's obstetrics and gynaecology service found inadequate care contributed to the deaths of three babies and many women suffered lifelong physical and mental harm.
Denise Roberts was reduced to tears as she recounted the effects of her bladder being cut during surgery.
"He [the doctor] lied to me and told that it was my fault because of constant UTIs (urinary tract infections) as a child, that my bladder split open in surgery," she said.
"Not that he cut my bladder open.
"I now have this extra trauma of believing that it's my fault that this happened," she said.
"I came here wanting to ask three questions and I didn't get to ask them.
"They're not looking out for me."
Invited attendees had hoped to get answers to questions, but were instead split into small groups to retell their traumatic experiences.
Melissa Ferrier, who was operated on by suspended surgeon George Du Toit, said there was a lot of angst, concern, worry and anger.
"I don't think they [the health representatives] expected the emotions that the women, support partners and husbands had," she said.
"They were truly shocked."
While some of the women appreciated the opportunity to be included in the process, it fell well short of what they were seeking.
"I want him [George Du Toit] to stand up and say I'm sorry," Ms Ferrier said.
Playing politics with women
Bundaberg-based patient advocate Beryl Crosby was the woman who brought the concerns to the Mackay Hospital and Health Service in 2021.
Outside the forum, Ms Crosby expressed disappointment in how the meeting was planned.
"A lot of women told their stories again and were traumatised by their stories and hearing other stories," she said.
"So I think that wasn't the right thing to do in this circumstance."
Ms Crosby said she hoped the women's experiences would not become a field for political point scoring.
"We shouldn't be playing politics with these women," Ms Crosby said.
Minister's visit
Ms D'Ath said what had happened at the Mackay Base Hospital should be used as a learning opportunity.
"We are going to make sure that we do healthcare better in this state," she said.
"This is about those women, acknowledging the trauma this has caused, acknowledging the harm, apologising for that harm and using their experiences and learning from their experiences.
She said it was about giving the women an opportunity to use their voice if they wanted to and to hear directly from the government what had already been done and what was planned.
Ms D'Ath said it was made clear in the forum that many women were still confused about the ongoing process.
"Communication is key ... how else can we provide easy information so that they don't have to watch the nightly news to know what is the next step or what is happening," she said.
Not getting the full picture
Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates was also in Mackay, but denied a request to attend the forum.
She said there was likely to be dozens more victims of the sub-standard care at the hospital.
"We are hearing from women who are not in that room today who appear to have fallen through the cracks," Ms Bates said.
"My question to the minister is, are you sanitising this, are you only seeing the patients who responded to the health line," she said.
"Can the minister tell us whether every patient who has been seen by this obstetrician has been reviewed?"
Ms Bates also raised concerns that the full report into the unit hadn't been released, only a high-level report.
Hospital response
The board of the Mackay Base Hospital was given until last Friday to show cause.
Ms D'Ath said she was considering their responses and hadn't given herself a time frame.
There are four clinicians that have been referred to the Health Ombudsman as a result of the independent investigation into obstetrics and gynaecology.
They no longer work at the hospital.
In a separate investigation, a urologist from the same hospital has also been suspended and referred.
Ms D'Ath said no other referrals had been made.
"This has shone a light on [the fact] that consumers don't necessarily know who to complain to and how," Ms D'Ath said.
"But it also shone a light on staff don't know [how] or feel like they can't complain higher up if they have raised issues at a certain level.
She said she was working with Dr Helen Brown, who headed up clinical excellence Queensland, as to what the processes should be.
"It's the culture ... culture takes time," she said.
