Queanbeyan Hospital maternity unit under scrutiny after mother's traumatic birth experience

A mother from Queanbeyan has spoken out about a traumatic birth experience at a regional New South Wales hospital, where she claims clinical failures during her labour almost cost her baby's life.

The Southern NSW Local Health District has apologised to the woman, known as Kate, for her "distressing" experience at Queanbeyan Hospital. The hospital's maternity unit has been facing significant challenges in recent months.

Mother demands answers

Kate said she felt "completely abandoned" for hours after arriving in labour at Queanbeyan Hospital in May. Despite reporting contractions five minutes apart and requesting an epidural as early as possible, Kate said she was not assessed by her midwife or offered any pain relief.

"She never checked how dilated I was, she didn't ask about my contractions, she wasn't asking about the pain, she wasn't monitoring the baby's heart rate at all," Kate said.

Kate said she became increasingly distressed as she progressed rapidly through labour "completely alone".

"The only time I was eventually given gas was when I became so overwhelmed by the pain that I rang the bell and begged for it," Kate said.

By the time the epidural was arranged, Kate said it was too late to be administered.

"The midwives were on the phone trying to call other doctors for backup and everyone's rushing around," she said. "They couldn't organise a C-section because the [baby's] heart rate was too low, so by the time they got theatre ready, she would have been brain dead."

Her daughter was delivered "blue and floppy" with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. Kate said her baby was in critical distress and required immediate resuscitation.

NSW Health apologises

In a statement, the Southern NSW Local Health District said representatives had spoken to Kate about her ordeal and concerns.

"Her family's experience is not in keeping with the district's and the community's expectations of the care provided at the Queanbeyan Maternity Service," the statement said. "Since her time in the hospital, the district has established a task force to implement improvements that will support clinical safety and improve workforce culture to meet the needs of the community."

Commission called in

Kate's case is part of a string of recent clinical, cultural and workplace issues at the Queanbeyan maternity service. NSW Health said locum doctors had been brought in to replace four general practice obstetricians who recently advised they were "temporarily unable to provide services at Queanbeyan Hospital".

The Clinical Excellence Commission and the Ministry of Health have also been called in to make recommendations to improve the maternity service. The district has also appointed a temporary Obstetric Health Head of Department, who started work this week.

"The district acknowledges there are always areas to improve the delivery of care and has identified opportunities where our maternity services can be strengthened," the statement said.

But Kate said despite its previously excellent reputation, she would "absolutely not" recommend the maternity service to other expectant mothers.

"It was really scary," she said. "[My daughter is] doing really well, thank God … but I just think I would hate for this to happen to someone else."