Doctors Slam New Birthing Model in South Australia's Mid North as 'Unsafe' and 'Unsustainable'

Local doctors have expressed concerns over a new birthing program introduced in South Australia's Mid North, calling the model "unsafe" and "unsustainable". The six-month trial, implemented by the Yorke and Northern Local Health Network, involves a one-team, one-site birthing model that alternates between Jamestown and Crystal Brook hospitals.

Doctors Raise Concerns Over New Birthing Model

In a joint letter to the health minister, four GPs expressed "urgent concern" about the changes to maternity service delivery, which took effect this week. The trial aims to address ongoing midwifery shortages across the health network.

However, local doctors argue that the rotation of maternity sites between Crystal Brook and Jamestown restricts them from simultaneously providing maternity and emergency on-call roles, while complicating and increasing pressure on clinical handovers.

"Fragmented care and unintentional gaps in handover have been associated with 80 per cent of serious preventable medical errors," the letter said.

"The mandated model effectively closes one maternity unit. It is well known that closures of maternity units reduce risk to that health service but conversely significantly worsen health outcomes in those affected communities by increasing the rates of babies born before arrival to hospital and increased rates of birth trauma."

Jamestown GP Simon Jackson, one of the letter's signatories, said the change would have flow-on effects to the wider health system and community, including around staffing and recruitment.

"So although this may appear as though it might fix one area of maternity, I think it will have a flow-on effect with potential implications for the whole community, especially non-maternity services," he said.

"I'm trained as a rural generalist; I cover primary care, obstetrics, so delivering babies, but also emergency care. And with this change in the model, I was restricted to only being able to provide obstetric care on Monday [when it came into effect]. And so that resulted in a shortage of doctors in the region … This has the potential in the future to also affect emergency services and lead to widespread doctor shortages throughout the region."

Minister Responds to Concerns

Health Minister Blair Boyer said the change was made on the advice of then-SA Health chief Robyn Lawrence.

"The framework is there to make sure no catastrophic event can take place. And I can't be a minister who receives that kind of advice from someone like [Dr] Robyn Lawrence and others who are … doctors themselves who tell me that there is a risk of a catastrophic event for a mother and/or her bub if we don't make a change," the health minister said.

Shadow Health Minister Jack Batty called on the government to listen to local doctors and work with them to find a solution.

"He should be explaining how those concerns around continuity of care and clinical handovers and patient safety are being assessed and what safeguards might be in place. But most importantly, [he needs to] sit down and work with them on a model that they're comfortable with, but also delivers reliable maternity care for regional families closer to home," Mr Batty said.

"We can't sort of just settle for some sort of timeshare arrangement that local doctors themselves are warning is unsafe and unsustainable."