Expectant mothers continue to struggle as Carnarvon maternity services remain shut two years on

Carnarvon families continue to be placed under stressful situations as expectant mothers are forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to deliver their babies almost two years since maternity services were shut in the Gascoyne town. Tina Harvey is required to travel to Perth on Friday to deliver her baby, due on March 1, and has forked out thousands of dollars for accommodation bookings and flights. Meanwhile, high-risk patient Bianca Ferreira, who is 36 weeks pregnant and due the day after Ms Harvey, still has no clue where she will be staying when she makes her way to Perth. Maternity services at Carnarvon Health Campus were shut down in February 2022, leaving expectant mothers no choice but to travel hundreds of kilometres to Geraldton or Perth to deliver their babies. Up until November, 163 Carnarvon mothers were required to travel to birth since early 2022, costing the State Government more than $635,000 in transport and accommodation subsidies. Nine more women were forced to travel in December. Ms Harvey said she pre-booked her accommodation when she was 14 weeks pregnant because she wanted a convenient location close to hospitals and shops, but any savings her family had were now used up. “It’s crap because the savings we did have we’ve had to use to book airfares and pay for this accommodation and obviously there’s other expenses when the baby comes, so it’s left us with nothing,” she said. The booking and flights have cost the family almost $4000, and although Ms Harvey expects the costs to be reimbursed she was not clear on whether she would get the full amount back. She said the most frustrating part about travelling to access maternity services was that her eldest daughter would miss out on crucial class time. “I have to pull my daughter from school, she misses the whole of term one if the baby comes on time,” she said. “She really struggled in school last year and has made good progress this year, so that’s the biggest concern for me.” “I tried to enrol her down in Perth but schools just never got back to me.” Ms Harvey delivered her two children, Oceana, 6 and Scarlett, 2, at Carnarvon Health Campus. She said since maternity services were shut down, the service and care in the town were lacking. “I didn’t realise it was this bad until I went to have this child. This time I’ve struggled to even have three good appointments with a midwife and I’m nearly 36 weeks pregnant,” she said. “The midwives are doing the best they can and they’re thrown into the deep end, but the care is just not what its used to be. I’m just lucky it’s my third child.” As a high-priority patient, Ms Ferreira would be required to travel to Perth to deliver her baby even if services were available in Carnarvon, but her issue has been locking in accommodation and flights. Ms Ferreira was renting in Perth but moved back to Carnarvon because of the cost-of-living crisis. She said her family was living pay to pay and booking accommodation themselves was not an option. Ms Ferreira, who lost her first son at 30 weeks, said accommodation and flights were yet to be confirmed one week before she was due to travel to Perth and she was beginning to stress relying on the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme (PATS) to assist. She said since the 30-week mark, she had developed anxiety symptoms and could not sleep. “Because I’m flying down by myself, I am going to have to work out how to get groceries to my accommodation,” she said. “There’s no way I can walk around town and I won’t have access to a car, I’ve got to work all this stuff out and I’d just like to know what I’m doing before I get there.” “My whole pregnancy has changed, it’s just been really awful.” Member for North West Central Merome Beard said families were being placed under unacceptable levels of stress and anxiety, jeopardising both their physical and mental health. “Staff at the Carnarvon Health Campus do an incredible job with seemingly limited support but a lack of midwifery and maternity services in Carnarvon and the region is an absolute disgrace,” she said. In December, Shane Love MLA met with expectant parents and said they were distressed and deeply frustrated their birthing plans require a 1000km trip away from family and support networks. “Local mothers are being stranded in expensive hotel rooms, isolated from spouses and children, forced to bridge the financial gap between PATS and the real cost of weeks away from home,” he said. “Even worse, we understand the emergency department in Carnarvon is also now struggling to cope with maternity presentations, placing those in urgent need at risk.” A WA Country Health Service spokesperson said it had long maintained a commitment to re-establishing birthing services in Carnarvon but until the service could be appropriately staffed, it remained safest for expectant mothers to deliver elsewhere. “A comprehensive antenatal and postnatal service continues to be provided locally,” the spokesperson said. “Carnarvon also has access to specialist support through our Midwifery and Obstetrics Emergency Telehealth Service (MOETS). “MOETS is a 24/7 service that connects healthcare workers on the ground to consultant obstetricians and specialist midwives. “We have worked hard to implement a range of workforce strategies. So far those efforts have resulted in our attracting a record number of newly qualified nurses and midwives, medical interns and intern pharmacists to country WA in 2024.”