Proposed Level 2 maternity services for rural Queensland
In response to reports of escalating concerns and confusion from doctors located in rural Queensland about Queensland Health’s plan to reinstate maternity services in Biloela, Cooktown and Chinchilla as Level 2 services, we wrote to Deputy Director General Dr Helen Brown.
AMA Queensland to Deputy Director General Dr Helen Brown, 15 May 2025
Doctors, including rural generalists, obstetricians, anaesthetists and emergency physicians located in rural Queensland, report escalating concerns and confusion about the proposal Queensland Health’s plan to reinstate maternity services in Biloela, Cooktown and Chinchilla as Level 2 services.
Doctors feel they had inadequate input to the plan’s development and have not seen sufficient formal documentation about its details, especially the model of care and medical involvement. This has been compounded by the government’s new ‘Supporting healthy pregnancies’ website omitting any reference to obstetricians, or even doctors, in the three main settings promoted as options for women having a baby in Queensland.
In our letter we requested any detailed documents and any guidelines or protocols that we can provide to our members explaining the full nature of the Department’s proposal. This is so we can then obtain feedback to provide to Queensland Health.
Changes in maternity models of care require multidisciplinary involvement and cannot be implemented successfully without the support of the medical profession.
