Share of births before reaching hospital rises in New South Wales — ABC News Australia
In the Australian state of New South Wales, the share of babies born before their mother arrives at hospital has increased. Since 2001, this figure has doubled in regional areas and risen more than threefold in outer regional and remote areas, ABC News Australia reports.
The highest rates were recorded on the Central Coast and in the north of the state: in these areas, mothers do not reach hospital before giving birth in one out of every 67 cases. NSW Health data include planned home births before a midwife arrives, births without a registered midwife or doctor, and births at home or on the way to hospital. Separate statistics for these categories are unavailable.
Births on the way to hospital
Perinatal social worker and advocate Jen Laurie said that, based on her observations, many such cases involve births while travelling. She said women had shared stories about giving birth at rest stops and in toilet blocks.
One of them, Shara Kimpton, gave birth to her third child five weeks premature in 2023 at the Birdcage Rest Area on the Sturt Highway in the Riverina region. She was travelling with her mother to the hospital in Griffith, located more than 90 kilometres from her home. According to Kimpton, the birth took place outdoors as trucks drove past.
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During her fourth pregnancy, the woman planned to give birth at home without a medical professional, fearing a repeat of the situation on the road, but later contacted a hospital. The Murrumbidgee Local Health District apologised that Griffith Hospital had been unable to provide her with an antenatal consultation before the recommended 14th week of pregnancy.
Closures of units and staff shortages
Jen Laurie links the increase in such births to the reduction and centralisation of maternity services. Dozens of maternity services in the state have been closed or suspended in recent decades. In particular, the unit in Parkes has not operated since 2019 due to staff shortages, it was closed in Muswellbrook in 2022, and births in Tumut were suspended after the only obstetrician was barred from working at the hospital.
New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park said the authorities aim to reduce the rate of births before arrival at hospital. He acknowledged that concentrating services in major hospitals was linked to safety requirements and the need for round-the-clock staffing. At the same time, the government is expanding home birth programmes and midwifery group practices. Since 2023, more than 300 new midwife positions have been filled in the state, half of them in rural and regional areas.
