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Carpark birth another reminder of sad state of rural health

The birth of a child in a rural hospital carpark, after the mother was refused admission due to the absence of a mid-wife, is yet another reminder of the sad state of rural health services in Queensland.

Jennifer Gold was last week reportedly refused admission to the Miles Hospital due to the lack of a midwife.

As a result she gave birth in the hospital carpark as nurses watched on.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has rightly demanded an explanation - after all no woman in such a state should be turned away from any hospital, anywhere.

But demanding an explanation from the Miles Hospital is only addressing the symptoms of a deeper problem in Queensland Health.

The fact remains that both State and Federal governments need to inject serious amounts of new money into the health system, particularly in rural areas.

According to the Rural Doctors Association of Australia more than 13,000 extra health professionals — 1000 additional doctors, 5400 additional nurses, 600 additional midwives, and more than 6100 additional allied health professionals — are needed urgently in rural and remote Australia just to meet basic healthcare needs.

If that is the case the incident in Miles is unlikely to be one of a kind.

What do you think?

Posted By: Michael Thomson on 12/12/2007 8:27:09 AM | Comments (3)

Comments

Date: Newest first | Oldest first

I was born in Australia, studied medicine in Australia, and speak English.

I volunteered to work in the country as a doctor, but received such appalling treatment at the hands of the penny-pinching bureaucracy that I was forced to leave.

I was denied the chance to train in obstetrics, in order for the bean counters to save money (a couple of grand a year).

The Health Minister, Stephen Roberston, was made aware of this and he dismissed the matter entirely.

If you think Bundaberg was an isolated example of bureaucracy gone mad, you don't know the full story.

This will not be fixed until (or even if) someone dies.

I'd rather remain anonymous, as Qld Health has a nasty habit of making life difficult for those who blow the whistle.

Posted by Ex-country doc on 14/12/2007 5:12:09 AM

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!!! WHAT AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE AND EMBARASSMENT QUEENSLAND HEALTH IS!!

How dare they refuse admission to a person requiring medical attention.

Surely some medical attention by whatever nursing staff on hand at the time is preferable to sending a woman off to give birth in a car in the carpark!!

For heaven's sake, this is 2007!!!

Posted by CQ on 18/12/2007 4:20:37 AM

As always there is two sides to a story, unfortunately only one can be told due to patient confidentiality.

Who has heard of a 9-minute labour from start to finish?

Surely this woman could have presented a little earlier.

It is this type of ill-informed reporting that discourages any hope of recruiting medical or nursing staff to these environments.

Why don't the media run promotional stories on maybe a couple of successful life and death scenarios?

If there isn't a buck to be made or a journalist to progress the career on the back of hardworking Australians, the story won't go to print.

Posted by anonymous on 21/12/2007 9:59:14 PM

Michael Thomson is the Editor of FarmOnline. He has previously worked as the Canberra Parliamentary Press Gallery correspondent for the Rural Press group of agricultural newspapers, and as a senior reporter with Queensland Country Life.