Mothers-to-be in Ballarat are being left with no choice but to fork out hundreds of dollars for private scans as the city's public hospital struggles to cope with demand.
Justine Adam discovered she was pregnant in January this year.
Following the general medical advice for expectant mothers, Ms Adam contacted Ballarat Base Hospital, operated by Grampians Health, to book a confirmation scan after receiving a referral from her doctor.
She was told there was no availability until May.
"I was told to ring around and contact wherever I could," Ms Adam said.
"I was shocked. From January to May, I was like wow, that's insane. You can't be asking people to wait that long."
Left with no other option, Ms Adam booked in with a private clinic in Sebastopol.
While the 38-year-old said going the private route had been a "great decision", she said the costs of scans and tests were adding up, even with the Medicare rebate.
"I had to have two scans within two weeks, which was around $500. I think we got about $150 back from Medicare. So it's a significant amount," she said.
Ms Adam and her partner work two jobs each, and acknowledged choosing the private route might not be an option for others — especially given the current cost of living pressures.
"For people who can't afford it, I don't know what other avenues they can take," she said.
"There's definitely something that needs to be looked at."
Staffing issues to be resolved 'soon'
In a statement, a Grampians Health spokesperson said "as with many health services", the organisation was "experiencing very high demand across a number of medical imaging modalities".
"We expect to resolve these staffing issues soon and are currently recruiting additional staff," they said.
It comes as the Victorian government works to recruit and train an additional 17,000 nurses and midwives to boost the workforce state-wide through a range of initiatives.
"We're also supporting undergraduate midwives — including at Grampians Health — to work while they study, giving extra support to our existing midwives and helping build up the skills of the next generation of midwives," a spokesperson said.
Wait times not new
ABC has been contacted by at least six other mums-to-be who have had to shelve plans to get their scans done at Ballarat Base Hospital due to the lengthy wait times.
One woman said she decided to forgo the confirmation scan completely due to a lack of availability in both the public and private health systems.
Ballarat teacher Rochelle Ryan said she had to travel to Melbourne to have her scans in 2019-2020.
"Even private in Ballarat was booked out for way too long," she said.
Ms Ryan said one of her later scans was local and private but cost "over $200".
