Mayor: Parkes Hospital Deserves Respect & Access To Maternity Services

Published on 04 April 2025

On the 19 March 2025 the Deputy Mayor Marg Applebee and I travelled to Sydney to meet with the Minister for Health the Hon. Ryan Park to once again fight for maternity services for Parkes.

It quickly became apparent that maternity services are now a statewide issue, with many hospitals in the region, including some of the larger hospitals, run entirely by locum doctors that fly-in and fly-out. Maternity services across the state are in crisis.

I was however heartened to hear the campaigner for rural health Dr Joe McGirr, who is the independent member for Wagga Wagga, moved in parliament on 19 February 2025 the following…

(1) Notes that the decline in rural and regional obstetric services is presenting a risk to the health and safety of rural and regional women and their babies as well as rural and regional families and communities.

(2) Calls on the New South Wales Government to restore, maintain and grow rural and regional obstetric services.

(3 ) Calls on the New South Wales Government to immediately work with key clinical stakeholders to deliver an action plan by the end of the year to ensure that networked obstetric services provide care as close to home as possible for rural and regional women and families.

In part, Dr McGirr states "Should we need statistics to underpin those cases, we do not have to look far. I am aware of at least 15 birthing services in rural and regional communities that have closed in the past decade or so. At least another six birthing centres are facing closure, downgrades or bypasses. Women from communities in western, northern and southern New South Wales are facing the prospect of long journeys to deliver their babies and the ever-present risk of giving birth before they reach their destination hospital."

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, NSW Health data showed that women who gave birth on roadsides or in cars or ambulances en route to hospital made up 0.7 per cent of births for all New South Wales districts in 2022. But in the Northern NSW Local Health District, that rate reached 1.7 per cent. That is more than one in 60 babies born before the mother arrived at the hospital. In western New South Wales, it is more than one in 80 babies. That rate reached 1.2 per cent in 2022, and that was a rise of 0.5 per cent in just three years."

During the debate Mr Gurmesh Singh, Shadow Minister for Regional Health stated "The decline in services has far-reaching consequences. Since 1990 born-before-arrival births have doubled in northern New South Wales and tripled in western New South Wales, and recent cuts have further deepened the crisis. Maternity services have recently ceased in Muswellbrook, Parkes, Cootamundra, Milton, Ulladulla and Woy Woy. Meanwhile communities like Gunnedah, Glen Innes and Kempsey are witnessing a reduction in essential services. In places like Kempsey mothers can often be transferred to a neighbouring hospital without their babies. I cannot imagine the stress and trauma that that brings to both mother and baby. The ongoing closures, downsizing and bypassing of regional maternity units only compound the risk, leaving our most vulnerable even more exposed."

I certainly support the efforts of Dr McGirr, and congratulate him on having this motion passed, as an action plan is certainly needed. We are constantly reassured that Parkes maternity reinstatement is high on the agenda of NSW Health, however after years and years we do not seem to be any closer.

When the Parkes and Forbes hospitals were being built, core services were to be retained and some services shared, such as chemotherapy and dialysis. Unfortunately, what has transpired is a deterioration of services in Parkes. We now see maternity and pathology for example moved entirely to Forbes. That is not sharing, that is consolidating services to the detriment of Parkes!

Forbes has every right to have these services, but likewise, so does Parkes. If the hospitals were further apart our communities would be fully serviced, and we would not be faced with splitting services between the towns.

Is it time to seriously consider the benefits of operating Parkes Hospital and Forbes Hospital as standalone entities, rather than shared as part of the Lachlan Health Service? Surely both Parkes and Forbes deserve their own dedicated healthcare services, like other towns of comparable size. This change could lead to more tailored healthcare solutions, increased community engagement, and improved resource allocation, ultimately enhancing the quality of care for both communities.

We will wait and see the results of the called for "action plan", and in the meanwhile continue to fight for improved services for the Parkes Shire.

Cr Neil Westcott

Mayor of Parkes Shire