Queensland public hospitals have almost two dozen full-time vacancies for rural doctors with advanced skills in obstetrics or anaesthetics, a quarter of them in the most remote region of the state, underpinning the ongoing maternity crisis.
New Queensland Health data, which lays bare some of the holes in the state’s regional obstetric workforce, comes as prominent obstetrician Gino Pecoraro calls for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to attend a maternity forum next week to show she is interested in solutions.
The Gladstone and Biloela hospitals have been on a birthing bypass for months.
"I personally have been involved in four reviews of maternity services in Queensland. It's always the same thing," said Dr Pecoraro, the president of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
"I'm happy that the government has listened to us when we said that we needed to have an emergency discussion to sort the situation out.
"I'm just disappointed that it's going to be the same people without the premier."
The Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS) has six unfilled positions for rural generalist senior medical officers with advanced diplomas in obstetrics and/or anaesthetics – vital for safe birthing services.
Torres and Cape HHS includes hospitals at Thursday Island, Bamaga, Weipa and Cooktown.
While birthing is available at Thursday Island, staffing issues threaten plans to resume birthing at Cooktown and Weipa hospitals.
Birthing services have not been provided at the Weipa hospital since last century and at the Cooktown facility since February last year.
Women from Cooktown and Weipa, and surrounding areas, usually travel to Cairns to give birth.
Birthing at the Weipa Integrated Health Service was scheduled for revival in late 2021, with up to 70 babies expected to be delivered there a year. But recruiting the necessary staff has proven difficult.
Rural generalist doctors are general practitioners who often have diplomas in specialties such as obstetrics, anaesthetics, mental health or paediatrics.
Those with advance training in obstetrics are not specialist obstetricians but have enough obstetric skills to perform emergency caesareans and manage other medical emergencies, if necessary.
GPs with additional skills in obstetrics and anaesthetics are both required to sustain a safe birthing service on a 24/7 basis in regional and remote areas.
Rural Doctors Association of Queensland president Matt Masel said about 3,000 of approximately 45,000 babies born in the state's public hospitals annually were delivered in maternity units operated by midwives and GP obstetricians.
"It's a significant number,” he said.
New data obtained from Queensland Health shows that on February 13, the state had more than 21 vacancies for full-time rural generalist doctors with obstetric or anaesthetic training across the state.
Other than Torres and Cape, the worst affected areas were the state’s Central West, South West and Townsville regions, each with three full-time unfilled positions.
Central Queensland – where Gladstone and Biloela hospitals remain on a birthing bypass – has vacancies for 2.75 full-time equivalent senior medical officers with advanced anaesthetic skills.
'We need genuine exit interviews'
Dr Masel, a GP obstetrician in the Queensland border town of Goondiwindi, called for more research into why health workers were leaving Queensland maternity units.
"We need genuine exit interviews," he said.
"When someone either leaves a birthing unit, especially if it results in the closure or bypass of that birthing unit, we need to be talking to those people and saying: 'Why?'.
"What could we have done to ensure that you felt comfortable to stay?”
A Queensland maternity workforce forum will be held at the State Library in Brisbane on Thursday next week to discuss potential solutions to recruitment and retention problems.
Comment has been sought from Ms Palaszczuk's office about whether she will attend.
In a letter inviting peak bodies to the forum, Queensland Health proposes a new "workforce rotational model" to help address staff shortages in the regions.
A pilot program under development at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital will recruit extra obstetric specialists to travel to and from regional centres to support their maternity units, when needed.
When questioned by the ABC about how the proposed model would work, a Queensland Health spokeswoman said: "While still in the conceptual phase, the intent is to recruit additional obstetrics and gynaecology specialists to travel to regional communities, on a rotational basis, to support local facilities."
