Stress and cost blowouts reported as births suspended at Portland hospital

She was booked in to deliver her second child close to home at Portland District Health, but last week the hospital told her the birthing unit was closed due to a midwife shortage.

"I had a really quick labour with my son Cullen and I was so worried that I was going to give birth on the road that I had to go to Warrnambool as soon as my contractions started," Ms Parker said.

"We've had to stay in Warrnambool and it's cost us so much for accommodation because we weren't allowed to drive back and forth.

"There's a rebate that you can get if you live 100 kilometres or more away, where they pay for part of your accommodation and part of your fuel.

"From our house to the hospital is exactly 99 kilometres."

It was a very different experience from the birth of her son Cullen, who she was able to have close to home in Portland.

"I didn't have the stress of having to travel, of worrying if my labour happens it was only a short distance drive to the Portland hospital," Ms Parker said.

"This time even the idea of going into labour then having to travel over an hour was constantly on my mind and stressing me out because of how quick my first pregnancy was.

"With my first pregnancy I was in labour for three hours. This pregnancy I was only in labour for an hour and 15 minutes.

"So if I'd waited until I was in full labour to travel I would have been having her on the side of the road."

Finding accommodation in Warrnambool was the next challenge.

"Everything was booked out so it was quite hard and very frustrating. And then I've also been away from my son for pretty much nearly a week," Ms Parker said.

"We had family that could look after him, but we're lucky we have that support. Not everyone does."

Her husband Pat was by her side the entire time, but couldn't stay with her overnight in hospital like he could in Portland.

"I can understand why they can't have partners staying there overnight because they're that full and they're short staffed as well," she said.

"And then of course they've now got the majority of Portland pregnancies coming over as well."

Ms Parker was meant to be induced on Tuesday but was deferred due to an emergency birth coming in from Hamilton.

She gave birth to her daughter Alina at 12.20pm on Wednesday.

"We had to find an extra night of accommodation because they just didn't have the manpower in Warrnambool to have the ones already in full labour and an emergency coming in on top of that," she said.

"I feel so sorry for the midwives and the doctors in both the Portland and Warrnambool hospitals.

"The whole thing is putting a massive stress on them all and they're trying to do the best thing they can for all the pregnant women and their babies."

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Meanwhile, Portland's only eye surgeon has quit amid the crippling staff shortages and impacts to medical services at the city's public hospital.

Dr Robert Harvey said he was left with no choice but to hand in his resignation at PDH after his request to work as a visiting medical officer (VMO) was rejected by the hospital board.

He's taking work to Mount Gambier. Some of his patients are from Camperdown and even as far as Geelong.

Dr Harvey worked on a salary basis for six years, despite the majority of ophthalmologists in Victoria working as VMOs.

"I didn't mind working for less than I deserved because I was supporting the hospital. This is a small hospital, and we all have to pull together so there are sacrifices to be made," Dr Harvey said.

But he said the hospital had failed to replace anesthetists who had left, instead relying on costly locums who can't provide training to junior staff.

"In a place like this we need an anesthetic service - that means three or more anesthetists to cover the full day every day," he said.

"I can see the way things are headed and I feel very sad about it."

He said no doctor could understand why the birthing services were suspended for three months.

"It came in as a surprise because the number of midwives hadn't changed.

"I think they want to reduce the number of services in this hospital and obstetrics would certainly to be an easy one to be shut down.

"The obstetrician and midwives say they could potentially start services as soon as next week if there's a will from management."

This week a review into PDH was made public after months of lobbying from the community.

A report by healthcare consultant David Hillis in 2019 found the service had a lack of on-site senior medical staff and relied on specialists who stayed in Portland just days at a time.

The review, released Thursday, found qualified specialists rarely applied for positions in the area.

It called for the use of rural generalists - doctors with a broad range of skills suited to rural environments - over the next five to 10 years. It also proposed greater sharing of medical services with other health providers in the region.

The Standard obtained the report ahead of its public release under freedom of information.

You can read our in-depth analysis of the findings here.

PDH chair Professor Peter Matthews said the report highlighted deep-seated structural problems at the hospital that formed over many years.

"(They) are putting significant pressure on their ability to deliver quality healthcare for our community," Professor Matthews said.

"It's clear that we all need to constructively work together to make changes that will ensure PDH delivers quality healthcare in our region now and into the future."

Staff shortages, culture issues, insufficient training and lack of education opportunities plague the service, the report reveals.

"PDH is currently an isolated specialist hospital, that isn't effectively integrated into regional services, is staffed with resident medical officers, and has limited effective hospital/local general practitioner interaction," Professor Matthews said.

He said the new board would implement the recommendations and rejected concerns from the community and staff of a merger with a service like South West Healthcare.

"We've been clear that amalgamation is not on the table, but Professor Hillis has outlined numerous ways PDH can work more closely with nearby health services to combine expertise and make the best use of resources," he said.

The Portland community will rally on Sunday amid continued concern about the city's public hospital.

Organiser Ellen Linke said she was disappointed the board chair would not be attending.

"We can only hope that they do work harder on getting the rural generalists so that we can move ahead," Ms Linke said.

"We just want to keep the pressure on them and show the community is really concerned especially since the suspension of maternity services.

"That's quite frightening for these women due to give birth any day now."

She welcomed the release of the Hillis report.

"I think the community pressure is working."

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Health Minister Martin Foley have also been invited.

The meeting will be held at the Portland Civic Hall on Sunday, March 27 at 4.30pm.

South West Coast MP Roma Britnell, who has repeatedly raised the issue of PDH in parliament, will be attending.

A petition will be tabled in parliament next month calling on the Hillis recommendations to be actioned and to increase funding at PDH.

It also calls for a guarantee from the state government that the service won't be amalgamated.

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