{"id":364436,"date":"2025-08-22T10:46:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/364436\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T10:46:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:46:16","slug":"biloela-hospital-on-maternity-bypass-for-three-years-with-patients-treated-via-telehealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/364436\/","title":{"rendered":"Biloela Hospital on maternity bypass for three years with patients treated via telehealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 36 weeks pregnant, first-time mum Isabella Zarkow knew something was not right when her headache would not go away.<\/p>\n

Then came the nausea.<\/p>\n

“I got a bit sick and started seeing stars \u2026 I went up to the hospital thinking, ‘This isn’t right,'” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Zarkow, 22, went to the Biloela Hospital in central Queensland, but there were no doctors available.<\/p>\n

Instead, she was seen by nurses and had a telehealth consultation with a doctor elsewhere in Australia.<\/p>\n

“They checked me over \u2026 [the telehealth doctor] advised me to go home and take Panadol with a can of Coke,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“Over a laptop screen \u2026 they’re not there to look at you \u2026 it does create a communication barrier.”<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Ms Zarkow and Philippa in their nursery. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)<\/p>\n

Ms Zarkow said her headache remained, and a few days later, she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at a routine midwifery appointment in Rockhampton.<\/p>\n

Baby Philippa was born the following day via emergency caesarean in July.<\/p>\n

“I was quite shocked \u2026 it was sort of a race against the clock for myself and the baby,” Ms Zarkow said.<\/p>\n

No local birthing services<\/p>\n

When Ms Zarkow attended Biloela Hospital, she had no swelling and did not recall having high blood pressure when it was tested.<\/p>\n

These are two indicators of pre-eclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy condition that can threaten the lives of mother and baby.<\/p>\n

Ms Zarkow said she was grateful to the staff who assisted her in Biloela, but was disappointed not to see a doctor onsite.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Baby Philippa was born healthy in July. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)<\/p>\n

Biloela Hospital has provided low-risk birthing services to the region since 1931, however, it has been on bypass since 2022.<\/p>\n

It means women need to travel to Rockhampton or Gladstone to give birth in a hospital, more than 120 kilometres away.<\/p>\n

In Queensland, the Cooktown and Chinchilla hospitals are also on bypass.<\/p>\n

Cooktown has not had a local birthing service since 2022, while Chinchilla has been without one since 2017.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Cooktown, Chinchilla and Biloela hospitals remain on birthing bypasses. (ABC News: Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n

The state government recently reviewed regional maternity services and found eight facilities across Queensland experienced periods of birthing bypass in the 18 months to January this year.<\/p>\n

Queensland Health said a global shortage of clinicians was the greatest challenge in delivering healthcare, including maternity services in regional, rural and remote areas.<\/p>\n

Rural Doctors Association of Queensland spokesperson Danielle Allan said telehealth was an important tool in emergency care and supported doctors so they were not working 24\/7.<\/p>\n

“It’s unfortunate for Biloela to be one of those sites, given that we’re now more than 1,000 days into maternity bypass there,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr Allan said.<\/p>\n

“I can understand the community being quite concerned at this potentially being yet another part of their service that isn’t what it used to be.”<\/p>\n

Telehealth ‘supports’, does not replace<\/p>\n

The Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service could not comment on Ms Zarkow’s case.<\/p>\n

Chief executive Lisa Blackler said telehealth was used when staff were unavailable, and workers had been rotating between Gladstone and Biloela hospitals.<\/p>\n

“We would love to have our own workforce on the ground at Biloela Hospital. We are doing everything we can to recruit, attract and retain the workforce,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms Blackler said.<\/p>\n

“Our telehealth complements the delivery of healthcare and in rural, remote areas \u2026 it supports it, it doesn’t replace it.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lisa Blackler says everything is being done to recruit, attract and retain staff. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)<\/p>\n

Ms Blackler said it was appropriate for patients to be seen via telehealth at the hospital.<\/p>\n

She said a positive culture and professional development opportunities were among the focuses of the health service to attract and retain staff.<\/p>\n

According to the local council, more than 14,000 people live in the region, with about 5,600 people in Biloela.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Construction is underway on units to house staff at Biloela Hospital. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)<\/p>\n

Birthing suite upgraded<\/p>\n

The Queensland government has funded upgrades to the hospital’s birthing suite and surgical theatre, as well as units to house health workers on site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Resuming birthing will be a mammoth task, however, Ms Blackler said the health service was committed.<\/p>\n

She is recruiting for a senior midwifery consultant with the goal of returning birthing services by mid-2026.<\/p>\n

While birthing services are unavailable, local women can still receive prenatal and postnatal support at the hospital through midwives.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Danielle Allan says training doctors in regional and rural areas earlier in their careers can help attract them to the bush. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Dr Allan said metro placements were seen as more attractive because of specialty training opportunities, the preference for a city lifestyle, and the appeal of living close to family and friends.<\/p>\n

She said it was important to have incentives in place for rural and remote jobs, such as housing.<\/p>\n

Dr Allan said access to housing and schools was key to enticing people away from the city.<\/p>\n

“The community can make a huge difference \u2026 making sure that your healthcare workers feel part of the community, they get embedded in the community and it really becomes their home,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“It also goes back to getting those medical students and nursing students when they come to these communities \u2026 to really have great community exposure and involvement.”<\/p>\n

Dr Allan said when hospitals experienced prolonged bypasses, it also became harder to attract medical professionals to the area.<\/p>\n

Ms Zarkow’s daughter Philippa was delivered safely, and mother and baby are doing well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 36 weeks pregnant, first-time mum Isabella Zarkow knew something was not right when her headache would not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[9873,45634,127749,27259,127750,127751,118499,14338,5205,105,4348,1867,127755,35628,127756,99201,5207,127754,33875,127753,127752,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-364436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-access","9":"tag-accessibility","10":"tag-biloela","11":"tag-birth","12":"tag-birthing","13":"tag-births","14":"tag-bypass","15":"tag-care","16":"tag-doctors","17":"tag-health","18":"tag-healthcare","19":"tag-hospital","20":"tag-maternal","21":"tag-obstetrics","22":"tag-pre-eclampsia","23":"tag-rural","24":"tag-shortage","25":"tag-shortages","26":"tag-staff","27":"tag-staffing","28":"tag-telehealths","29":"tag-uk","30":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115072020770300423","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}