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- Midwives say loss of obstetric services at Whakatāne Hospital puts pregnant people and their babies at risk
- Four specialists have resigned
- Health NZ says it is recruiting for more
- Meanwhile, high-risk cases will be transferred to Tauranga Hospital for obstetric and gynaecological services
Midwives in the eastern Bay of Plenty fear pregnant women and their babies will be at serious risk of harm with the collapse of obstetric services at Whakatāne Hospital.
All four specialists have resigned and although Health New Zealand is working to recruit more, in the meantime high-risk cases will be transferred to Tauranga Hospital from mid-January.
About 650 babies are born in Whakatāne Hospital's district each year, 19 percent by caesarean.
About half of those - nearly one in 10 - are emergency operations.
One local midwife, whom RNZ has agreed not to name, said and her colleagues were extremely worried for the whānau in their care.
"We feel sick about it, midwives don't want to come to work. What happens if something goes wrong? Will it be on me? It's not my fault there's no doctor available."
Te Whatu Ora said Whakatāne would shift to a primary birthing service on a temporary basis from mid-January.
However, midwives said the district was already without obstetric cover at times.
There has been been no obstetrician at the hospital since 8am Wednesday, with the next one due on shift at 8am on Saturday.
Another midwife, who also spoke to RNZ anonymously, said communication from hospital managers has been "very poor" and midwives did not feel adequately prepared.
"You could have a normal pregnancy and birth and then have a post-partum haemorrhage - there was one of those the other day, who had to be rushed to theatre.
"You could be labouring normally and then suddenly the baby is in distress and you need a caesarean," she said.
"Getting to Tauranga Hospital by ambulance, that's going to take an hour-and-a-half.
"We've already had problems with ambulances not being available. There's the chopper, but wouldn't a doctor be cheaper?"
Midwives calculated about 300 women a year may need to be transferred.
Local staff have been told it could be a year or 18 months before Whakatāne Hospital again has an obstetrics services.
The national chief midwife, Laura Aileone, said Te Whatu Ora acknowledged it was "a difficult and unsettling time" for the community.
However, they could be assured that clinical safety came first.
"We have these escalation procedures and policies around the country in our other primary units and at our rural units. We have those in place and we'll be implementing them.
"This is our top priority."
Health NZ started recruiting internationally for obstetricians two weeks ago, she said.
She was not able to comment on why four specialists had resigned at the same time, nor what had been done to try to retain them.
"I can't talk to local district solutions, I sit at a national role obviously, but my understanding is that people have been working as hard as they can to both attract internationally and nationally, and work across districts and work across regions to see where we could get cover from some of our other centres."
However, Whakatāne mayor Victor Luca, who was born in Whakatāne Hospital himself, said it was not acceptable that mothers and babies were being put at risk.
"It's very sad that people have to take risks to have their children now.
"You can assess a person, that's all very well, but if the unexpected happens, we won't be well placed to deal with them here - they'll have to be transferred to Tauranga.
I'm just hoping this is a temporary thing, but unwinding these things once they've happened is not easy."
Health NZ had assured the College of Midwives that there would be supports for whānau who had to travel - and for midwives who would lose out financially with their clients transferred, chief executive Alison Eddy said.
"We don't want to lose any midwives from the region because their work becomes financially unsustainable.
"So I think those plans, as I understand it, are being put in place, and there's a real effort to ensure the midwifery workforce is retained, regardless of what's happening with the [obstetric] service at Whakatāne."
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