Nurse unit manager at Bega Hospital, Chris Vanderberg, said: “If a midwife walked in through the door we would engage them. We have tried home growing them this year through direct entry courses.”

But Geoff Dove, of SOHI said: “We wouldn’t be in this mess today but for the interference of GSAHS.”

Mr Dove maintained that as GSAHS withdrew services then staff in those areas left.

“It came down to a resource issue. Up to that time maternity had been operating well from since the 1930s.”

Mayor, Tony Allen, had to interject several times during the meeting in an attempt to lower the temperature of discussions.

“You’ve got some real frustrations in your hearts, but it’s important that we talk,” Cr Allen said.

Mr Barnett said that he would love to see improved services in Bega, “but in reality it won’t happen until the new hospital is built”.

Land purchases in the south of Bega for the new hospital are still under review with no indication of when the process might be completed, Mr Barnett admitted.

But Sharon Tapscott, of SOHI, could not understand why Pambula Hospital was not being utilised.

“My dilemma is that Bega Hospital is under pressure but you have taken the option of taking people past a fully functioning hospital to one under stress. Why transfer more and more people to Bega when it’s not coping,” Ms Tapscott said.

Mr Barnett responded: “You’re not going to like what I’m going to say but it’s incredibly difficult to run two services 20 minutes apart. Very experienced and well-qualified people acknowledged the difficulty of having a GP obstetrician sitting in Pambula but their recommendation was for Bega.”

Mr Barnett said that nurse unit managers found Pambula Hospital difficult to staff and couldn’t guarantee that they would have the staff and that provided uncertainty for mothers.

Frankie J Holden, of SOHI suggested that maybe the committee and Mr Barnett should work together.

“This problem isn’t going to go away. We may be better to work together rather than take an adversarial role if you are fair dinkum about your concerns,” he said.

But later in the discussion he could not but help vent his frustration saying: “If the state has $10 million to blow on fireworks off Sydney Harbour Bridge, we don’t have a money problem.”

After the meeting Dr Simonson told the News Weekly: “It’s frustrating from a doctor’s point of view because nothing is happening; in fact it’s worse because there are no doctors doing maternity. We’ve still got women leaving hospital early, three nursing staff put out of work and an empty theatre at Pambula and an overloaded one at Bega.”

Mr Dove said that GSAHS’s media release left much to be desired in that it subordinated the importance of a key recommendation which was the sustainability of a single birthing service depended on maintaining a GP obstetrician after hours ratio of 1:6 (a GP obstetrician would be called out in one out of six shifts).

After 12 months this still had not been achieved, Mr Dove said.

He went on to add that the second reason for consolidated birth services was Bega’s ability to provide backup intensive care, general surgery, on call surgery and pathology.

“The real reason is highlighted in the 2008 maternity services report and that was the insufficiency of midwifery and GP obstetrician resources. They should have got the resources in place and placed the safety of mothers and babies first,” Mr Dove said.