00:00As if getting ready to give birth wasn't scary enough, Central Coast mum Zoe Zawiericz faces
00:08the prospect of a road trip to Sydney or Newcastle for the delivery of her second child.
00:13If that was to happen, that would be terrifying and that's the last thing a person in labour
00:17needs to deal with.
00:19It could also be dangerous.
00:20Emergency C-sections need to be done very, very quickly and if the expectant mum is in
00:26an ambulance on the highway, then they can't do it there.
00:30There's a risk women in labour may be diverted from Gosford Hospital because of a lack of
00:34senior doctors.
00:36There is a statewide, national and international shortage of specialists in a number of areas
00:43and we haven't managed to fill all of those roles recently.
00:48The hospital is scrambling to recruit more doctors, insisting it has enough staff to
00:53avoid a shutdown of birthing services next week, but not making any guarantees.
00:58I can't predict the future, I suppose, so anything could happen.
01:03We're now absolutely seeing breaking point for our services.
01:07On the mid-north coast, Port Macquarie Base Hospital has to take more women because of
01:11staff shortages at Kempsey Hospital.
01:14On top of that, staff at Port Macquarie claim fewer midwives are being rostered on each
01:18shift, something the local health district denies.
01:22Having the idea that there might not be someone there to look after you and to help you is
01:26really scary.
01:27This is completely unacceptable and the government should never have allowed this situation to
01:31have arisen.
01:32The Nurses and Midwives Association has seized on the staff shortages as it fights for a
01:37pay rise, but the government is still refusing to meet its demands for a 15% bump.
01:42The New South Wales government, New South Wales Health aren't listening to us that the
01:46service isn't working.
01:47A dire prognosis by those holding the system together.
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