It's been more than seven weeks since birthing services were suspended at Portland District Health, forcing more than 30 expectant mothers to seek care more than an hour away in Warrnambool.

In a bid to lure more staff a consultant has been appointed.

Starting Monday, specialist rural maternity consultant Fiona Faulks will work with south-west hospitals, the community, nursing union and state government to create a Portland-specific maternity model.

The hospital has hired two locum midwives but staffing levels are still too low to resume services, board chair Professor Peter Matthews said.

Professor Matthews said the goal was to deliver birthing services for the long term.

"We are confident that with her assistance, we can develop and implement a model to ensure Portland will have a customised maternity service tailored to the region's geography, population, workforce, and community needs," he said.

He said the hospital was still advertising for new midwives through local newspapers and recruitment websites, as well as through international recruitment pathways in a bid to attract overseas workers to the area.

Professor Matthews said the hospital would continue to implement the findings of the Hillis Review over the months and years ahead.

"This work will allow us to not only safeguard quality, effective maternity services, but build a model that will ensure Portland District Health's long-term future."

The service has received a boost with the arrival of a new trainee doctor.

Former journalist Dr Amy Marshall is a rural generalist registrar now working as a hospital medical officer at PDH.

It comes after the service was without urgent care doctors overnight for over a week, and the service lost its anaesthetic training.

The trainee position at the hospital is part of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine program, which offers training across a range of disciplines most commonly needed in rural areas.

Dr Marshall's shift from journalism to medicine started while she was working on documentaries on rural and remote health.

"They were living really adventurous lives, doing interesting medicine and seemed to be able to connect meaningfully with the communities they were a part of," she said.

"I loved being a journalist and was still enjoying my job but was feeling a little bit disillusioned with the media industry at the time. I've always been interested in Aboriginal and rural health and thought working as a rural doctor might allow me to connect and advocate for these communities more effectively.

"I grew up in country Victoria and love being part of rural communities. I want to continue that and give back to the communities that have given me so many great experiences."

It's a long way from newsrooms in Warrnambool, Mildura, Alice Springs and central Queensland, but her connection with rural communities remains just as strong.

Dr Marshall also worked as a doctor in Western Australia for two years, including in the remote Kimberley working in psychiatry before taking maternity leave for a year.

She returned to the rural generalist programme this year and chose Portland for its workplace flexibility, to be close to family and for the natural surrounds.

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