Staffing pressures at Canberra's women's and children's hospitals have resulted in the hospital declaring two internal emergencies over recent weeks.
The Centenary Hospital for Women and Children has come under intense pressure over recent weeks due to midwifery staffing shortages.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith confirmed that two "code yellows" have been activated at the hospital over the past few weeks, including one that was declared last Friday.
"A code yellow was in place for some time at some the Centenary hospital for Women and Children as a result of staffing pressures," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
A "code yellow" is part of Canberra Health Services' emergency management plan and "is activated when infrastructure and/or other internal emergencies affect service delivery standards both internal and external buildings".
Ms Stephen-Smith said agency staff had been brought in to deal with the staffing pressures and nurses were being used for some roles.
"A range of other measures are also being implemented to ensure that staffing and the maternity service is in fact safe," she said.
"That includes using nursing staff in addition to midwives and for some roles."
The Health Minister told the Assembly a "code yellow" was declared at the hospital on August 15 and another was activated last Friday.
She was asked about this in question time from opposition health spokeswoman Leanne Castley. Ms Stephen-Smith said code yellows were not rare and were a "standard process".
"I know Ms Castley likes to make a big deal of code yellows but actually code yellows are called on a regular basis across Canberra Health Services for a range of reasons," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
Ms Stephen-Smith pointed to a recent "code yellow" that was activated after a steam pipe ruptured. But the code yellows for the Centenary hospital were for staffing pressures.
The emergencies come following a damning report into the maternity unit at the hospital.
The report, from the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, showed the obstetrics and gynaecology department failed to meet most of the required standards needed to maintain its training accreditation for doctors.
The review found there were high workloads, "chronic understaffing" and high levels of burnout within the department, while trainees reported being spoken to in a "disrespectful manner" and being given feedback in "inappropriate settings".
The unit was given a six-month provisional accreditation.
The government also revealed about 11 midwives have left North Canberra Hospital after the government announced it would take over the hospital, formerly known as Calvary Public Hospital Bruce.
Ms Stephen-Smith said maternity was one of two areas which was affected by staff not wanting to transfer to Canberra Health Services. The other was cardiology.
There were nine midwives who chose not to transition, the Health Minister told the Assembly, and there were "potentially" 11 midwives who had quit since the acquisition was announced.
However, Ms Stephen-Smith said a number of midwives had been recruited and the hospital was also using agency midwives. She said staffing at North Canberra Hospital was stronger than the Centenary Hospital.
"Midwifery staffing is actually quite strong at the moment and North Canberra Hospital maternity is actually currently in a stronger position than Canberra Hospital maternity where... there have been some challenges over recent weeks," she said.
Ms Castley was scathing of the fact midwives had left the North Canberra Hospital and pointed to comments from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, which said the loss of even one midwife had implications.
"Given there are national shortages for midwives the fact that the government taking over Calvary Hospital has reduced our workforce shows how short sighted this government is," she said.
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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article reported 20 midwives had left North Canberra Hospital. Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has clarified that 11 have left since the takeover was announced.
