Following the lead of senior doctor, Dr Brett Thomson who withdrew his services from the hospital in May, Dr Meike Flore, Dr Lily Chen, and Dr Josette Docherty have said they will be unable to provide on-call assistance after the end of June. 

This means from July 1 there will be no births at Milton-Ulladulla Hospital. 

“Firstly, we all feel that it is not safe to keep providing [obstetric] services at Milton,” Dr Docherty said. 

“For the last 18 months we have not been able to practice obstetrics. We have not been able to practice our skills and we don’t feel that this is safe for the mothers or their babies.

“For the time being it will probably not be possible to deliver here, even a low-risk birth. 

“There will always be emergency births for women who won’t make it [to Nowra], but they probably won’t have a midwife or an obstetric trained doctor available to assist in the delivery.”

Frustrated by an inability to practice standard maternity services Dr Chen explained the reason for withdrawing services is centered on safety. 

“The services, especially in maternity, are getting worse and worse. We aren’t doing obstetrics. We are just seeing a patient and transferring them out,” she said.

“For the last 18 months to two years the services have significantly reduced and declined, for whatever reason. 

“We are expected to deal with the emergencies and the difficult births. However, we can’t do elective caesareans which means we aren’t allowed to practice and keep our skills up. 

“Medicine, especially obstetrics is something that you need to practice constantly.”

Dr Docherty said the decision has been a long time in the making.

Explaining the doctors have been forced to take this stance as it would not be safe for them to continue to provide obstetric services. 

“We have been talking about it and considering it for a long time. We now feel it is not safe to continue,” Dr Docherty said.

“There is often no midwives in the hospital to help the women who may come in. Many of them are leaving due to the current situation.

“Our main concern is the women and the babies we are looking after. We don’t want to be doing anything that is not in their best interest. We feel this is in the best interest of the patients.”

Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District [ISLHD] insist a decision regarding the future of obstetric and maternity services at Milton-Ulladulla Hospital has not been made.

ISLHD state obstetric services at the hospital are the subject of an ongoing investigation into safety protocol following three critical incidents. 

“We are in the process of carrying out a full review of the service and a final decision on the model of care for birthing services has not been made,” ISLHD Chief Executive Margot Mains said in a statement to the Times.

“We expect to be able to provide the community with the options considered and a way forward for maternity services at Milton by September.

“Our priority, first and foremost, is the provision of services that can be delivered safely and within the hospital’s clinical capacity.

“Significant adverse outcomes involving the birthing service at Milton play a part in our considerations into the safety of the service.

“A matter involving a baby being significantly compromised during labour and delivery was prosecuted by the HCCC before a Medical Professional Standards Committee in 2014.

“The other two incidents involved emergency caesarean sections that were carried out at Milton, which resulted in significant adverse outcomes.”

More information to follow.