WOMEN in a regional area of the Hunter New England Health district are concerned of what they will have to endure once the only gynaecologist in town retires.
The warning from women in Armidale comes after a weekend where there were no obstetricians nor gynaecologists available, forcing expectant mothers to drive the 1.5 hours to Tamworth.
New England MP Adam Marshall said he has raised the issue with NSW Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor, requesting an urgent intervention at Armidale Hospital and across the region.
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"This situation is unacceptable," Mr Marshall said. "We shouldn't be without obstetrician services in a city the size of Armidale for that length of time."
The only gynaecologist in town, Dr Eugeni Mihaylov, has announced he will be retiring on October 31, following 40 years of practice.
Dr Mihaylov stopped taking new patients on September 5, leaving many women in the community unsure about who to turn to.
NSW Nurses and Midwives' Union spokesperson Michelle Chappell said managers at Armidale Hospital were working tirelessly to try and fill gaps in the roster with locums.
"We need the government to step up and actually do something about what's actually happening," Ms Chappell said, also noting the union's campaign to reduce staffing ratios down to one nurse for every three or four patients.
Ms Chappell, who is also a mother and a practising nurse at Armidale Hospital, said pregnant women undergo huge amounts of distress when plans are changed at the last minute.
"Sometimes they won't know it's a straightforward birth until the last minute," Ms Chappell said.
"We are putting mothers and their babies at risk."
Ms Chappell said a pregnant woman being forced to travel in the back of a car to Tamworth, where she has no support or no family, is unfair.
What if something goes wrong on the way to Tamworth, she said.
"A woman can bleed out due to a placental abruption which can kill a mother and baby very quickly," Ms Chappell said.
ACM has contacted Hunter New England Health District HNELHD for a response.
