ABC News (AU)
· collected 2026-10-07 · by Lauren Pezet and Peter Sanders
The new birthing suite in Gunnedah Hospital, unveiled in January as part of a $53 million redevelopment, remains unused due to the hospital's inability to recruit GP obstetricians. This recruitment challenge is described by advocates as a "full-blown national crisis," affecting other rural hospitals like Tumut and Parkes which are struggling with staffing shortages. The federal government plans to address this issue through a National Maternity Workforce Strategy, to be reviewed by Australian ministers in the coming year.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.25, but 1 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
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Leaning score withheld for article 61549: no verified evidence · logged 2026-10-07
In short:
Women can't have their babies in new suite unveiled in Gunnedah in January as the hospital has been unable to recruit GP obstetricians.
asserted
hospital → have → obstetricians
Advocates say the recruitment challenge is a "full-blown national crisis", with other birthing services also under strain.
asserted
services → say → strain
The federal government says a National Maternity Workforce Strategy is being developed, to be considered by Australian ministers this year.
asserted
Strategy → say → ministers
When Carmen Carslake was planning to give birth in February, she thought she would be doing it at Gunnedah's brand new birthing suite.
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she → plan → suite
"They'd just done the big renovation, so we assumed they could birth there, but that wasn't the case yet," she said.
uncertain
she → do → renovation
A broader $53 million redevelopment of the northern New South Wales hospital was unveiled in January and included a new birthing suite and bedroom in the inpatient and maternity unit.
Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) confirmed in a statement it was not currently supporting birthing services at Gunnedah Hospital because "ongoing recruitment efforts have so far been unable to secure GP obstetricians".
asserted
efforts → unveil → obstetricians
The spokesperson declined to say how long birthing services had been suspended and if the new suite had been used at all.
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suite → decline → ?
They said women were still being supported by local midwives during and after pregnancy, who help them with individual plans to give birth at Tamworth or Newcastle.
"We understand women want to give birth as close to home as possible, and we apologise that they cannot currently plan to give birth at Gunnedah Hospital," the statement said.
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statement → say → Hospital
Ms Carslake had been hoping to travel 40 kilometres from her home in Boggabri to give birth in Gunnedah, but the thought of needing to travel at least another hour to Tamworth was "nerve-wracking".
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thought → hop → Tamworth
"We ended up selecting a C-section simply for the fact that we didn't want to be stuck in Boggabri and go into labour and be an hour and a half away from the hospital," she said.
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she → end → hospital
"It wasn't a fun experience and we had to do all of our appointments up in Tamworth, which, being heavily pregnant, wasn't enjoyable either."
Ms Carslake said it was "frustrating" that they could not access the new facilities.
uncertain
they → have → facilities
"We were driving through Gunnedah all the time to get to Tamworth, knowing … potentially we could have been in Gunnedah birthing."
uncertain
we → drive → Gunnedah
'Full-blown national crisis'
HNELHD said recruitment was an "ongoing challenge nationally".
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recruitment → say → ?
In Tumut, women are being sent more than 100km away to Wagga Wagga after its only obstetrician was banned from practising at the hospital earlier this year, with recruitment still underway.
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recruitment → send → hospital
The maternity ward at Parkes has lain dormant since 2019, but NSW Health Minister Ryan Park recently confirmed work was still underway to build a team there with the intention of reopening it.
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work → lie → it
Recruitment is also underway to find a replacement to keep Scone's birthing service open after its GP obstetrician retires at the end of the year.
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obstetrician → find → year
President of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Elizabeth Jackson said the challenge of recruiting GP obstetricians in regional areas was "a full-blown national crisis that is not being spoken of".
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that → say → areas
"When one regional area fails the problem snowballs down the road to the next regional area and the next, and then you start to have a system under strain," she said.
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she → fail → strain
Dr Jackson said more needed to be done to invest in the recruitment and retention of specialist doctors.
"
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more → say → doctors
There are not enough GP obstetricians [in the training pipeline] now to replace the ones that are retiring."
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that → be → ones
She said specialist doctors want more flexibility to work in both private and public obstetrics, particularly in regional areas.
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doctors → say → areas
"It's not always about only investing within the public sector and in fact private obstetrics and the ability for GPs that specialise in obstetrics to be able to offer some level of private birthing is as equally important as it is to specialist obstetricians as well."
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it → invest → obstetricians
In a statement, a federal government spokesperson said it was delivering an additional $25 billion in hospital funding across all states and territories over five years under the new hospital funding agreement.
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it → say → agreement
"The National Maternity Workforce Strategy is currently in development and will be considered by Health Ministers this year," the statement said.
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statement → consider → Ministers
Mr Park said he regularly consulted with specialists and doctors, including peak bodies, and his government has "invested heavily" in strengthening the regional medical workforce, including for specialist doctors.
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government → say → doctors
"Through doubling our rural health incentives up to $20,000 for critical and hard-to-fill roles, $200.1 million for more key health worker accommodation, expanding the Rural Generalist Single Employer Pathway program and implementing recommendations from the Rural Health Inquiry," he said in a statement.
asserted
he → double → statement
HNELHD said it also offered relocation assistance and housing, additional leave, and access to training and education.
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it → say → training
The Aporia