Community
13 February, 2026
Calls for more maternity ward access
A CAMPERDOWN mother has called for South West Healthcare to open Camperdown Hospital’s maternity ward 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the community after she gave birth in Camperdown despite the ward being closed thanks to local midwives being on call.
Corinna (surname withheld on request) is the proud mother of two sons, a two-year-old and a newborn, who has had two very different birthing experiences in Warrnambool and Camperdown.
Speaking with Western District Newspapers, she said was deemed a high-risk pregnancy due to her chronic epilepsy and she was encouraged to get a caesarean section for both pregnancies.
“I said no – I’m a strong believer in letting the babies decide when they want to come out because when we actually do go into labour, it’s actually our baby releasing a chemical saying they’re ready to open up their lungs,” she said.
“I was told I had to go into Warrnambool for both of my births and I wouldn’t have an option because Camperdown doesn’t have the facilities to accommodate if I did end up having a seizure or if my baby needed intensive care.
“I couldn’t understand why that was the case when I was pregnant with Wyatt.
“The whole point of me moving to this area, and specifically this town, was because there was a hospital here which I thought could accommodate what I needed.
“Apparently, that wasn’t the case.”
Corinna said she first discovered Camperdown’s maternity ward was not open on weekends when she experienced preterm labour during her first pregnancy in 2023.
“I called the hospital at three in the morning and explained I was in pain, like period pain, and it was getting worse and not going away,” she said.
“I asked for a midwife, and they got in touch with a midwife who was still at home due to the time, and said they’d get the midwife to call me back as she was on call, but not there.
“I thought it was strange, then the midwife rang me and said I was in preterm labour and needed to go to Warrnambool for assessment.
“I asked why I couldn’t go to Camperdown, and she said there was no-one there at that time until she came in for her shift between 6-7am.
“I said my husband works full time and was asleep at that time, so I’d wait until 5am so he could take me in unless the pain got worse.”
Corinna was treated at Camperdown Hospital before being rushed to Geelong, with the labour not progressing and the contractions attributed to an irritable uterus.
She said she went into labour on a Friday and went to Warrnambool to give birth, describing the 26 hours of labour as “pure and sheer hell”.
“I had a student insert my epidural – I have scoliosis on the right side of my body, so she missed the site,” she said.
“I was numbed down one side of my body and felt everything down the other side, so they resited it – another student did the epidural, and they got the same site again.
“It got to around midnight and they had a locum come in – I heard her speak with a student doctor and ask if they knew how to use the equipment as they hadn’t used it before in their career.
“I said “with all due respect, if you don’t know what you are doing, do not touch me”.
“The locum said she had been working for 20 years and knew what she was doing, but I replied that I have been doing massages for 20 years and am willing to admit when my skill sets are out of date.”
Corinna said she then had issues when she began pushing, with her baby getting stuck resulting in her being rushed to theatre.
“They couldn’t get him out because my cervix had swollen from all the stress, so they started cutting to get him out, but I screamed as I could feel them doing it,” she said.
“The doctor glared at the anaesthetist and I was put under a general anaesthetic before they got the baby out as quickly as they could as general anaesthetic can be dangerous for the baby.
“They handed him to my mother-in-law, stitched me up and waited for me to come out of it.
“I reported it to my obstetrician and the anaesthetist department, and the head of the anaesthetist department tried to dismiss it as a racist claim.
“There was no racism in my complaint, it was a simple fact of them having someone who didn’t know how to use their equipment and two students who failed because they weren’t supervised or educated correctly.”
Western District Newspapers reached out to South West Healthcare regarding Corinna’s birthing experience in Warrnambool.
South West Healthcare was unable to respond to questions about the experience due to patient confidentiality obligations.
Corinna said it was during her second pregnancy when she heard concerns from other mothers in the area about the possibility of the maternity ward closing.
Western District Newspapers reported in August 2024 a Facebook page and petition were launched by a concerned resident following a pause during that month, which highlighted the widespread community concern regarding the possible loss of the maternity ward.
“All of my clients who were antenatal were coming in and panicking about whether they would be forced to go to Warrnambool – they found many of the midwives were nasty, doctors were on call and there was always a rotation which meant there were never the same doctors and midwives attending to them,” Corinna said.
“While I was pregnant, I was thinking how I had no choice but to go to Warrnambool even though I had a bad experience there.
“I told my husband I had two options – I could stick with my GP, not pay for private care and have a possibility of the GP not being there for the birth due to the closed ward and no facilities to manage me if I had a medical emergency, or pay for private care and have a high chance of the doctor I pay not being there.
“In regional Victoria, even if you pay for private care, you don’t get the obstetrician you pay for – it’s just whoever’s on call is who serves you – while in Melbourne you do.
“Even though I was told I couldn’t have shared care, I continued seeing my GP as I had a feeling I still needed to see her.”
Corinna said she was glad she made the decision to go against advice and continue shared care when her labour progressed quickly earlier this year.
She said she was in tears from contraction pain by 4.40am on a Saturday.
“I had three contractions while I spoke with the midwife on the phone, and she said I was definitely in labour and needed to go to Warrnambool as I would have to be forwarded on even if I went to Camperdown,” Corinna said.
“She advised me to call Warrnambool and inform them I was on my way and wake up my husband.
“I had five contractions in three minutes while I spoke with Warrnambool, and they advised me to ring an ambulance due to the speed of the contractions.
“The Triple-Zero operator said I was going to give birth at home, but my husband said he didn’t know how to do it and I said I needed an ambulance.
“My mother-in-law came in because she heard I was quite stressed and took over the phone call while Michael, my husand, was dealing with the two-year-old.”
Corinna said the paramedics insisted she had to go to Camperdown Hospital despite the ward being closed, even as she told them her only options were Warrnambool or Geelong.
“The paramedic said they could get me to Camperdown or I would have to give birth on the side of the highway,” she said.
“We ended up going to Camperdown Hospital as the contractions came harder, and the paramedics got in contact with the hospital and let them know the situation.
“A midwife who was undertaking nursing duties called in a second midwife and my GP, I felt relieved but guilty as the ward was closed and they weren’t supposed to be coming in.
“I had no pain relief – I was in the midst of dealing with the fact I had all these women around me who weren’t supposed to be there and what consequences they might face.”
“I was gripping onto a bedframe and the midwife’s hand with one foot on a peanut ball, the other on a stirrup and laying on my side.
Henry, the first baby born in Camperdown for 2026, arrived at 8.46am – Corinna had arrived at the hospital at 6.30am and was pushing by 7am.
Even with no traffic, travelling from Camperdown to Warrnambool Base Hospital takes 57 minutes, which would have resulted in the ambulance being forced to pull over en route due to the speed of the labour.
“All I can say is thank God all of those women answered their phones, because they didn’t have to,” Corinna said.
“My GP was impressed I did it without pain relief and with no seizures.
“They notified Warrnambool I was staying in Camperdown, and they called an hour later furious I was staying there and saying I was supposed to be there.
“The GP and midwife asked why I should be sent to Warrnambool if my family is only 10 minutes down the road and I’d given birth safely – why should she go an hour away now?
“They chose to come in – they could have let me give birth on the side of the road trying to get to Warrnambool.”
Despite Henry being the first baby born in Camperdown, Corinna said the Camperdown Hospital was barred from posting photos despite Corinna giving permission.
“I was asked if they could put photos up because Henry’s the first baby of the year for Camperdown, and I said yes because it was something for Camperdown,” she said.
“I was told Warrnambool shut it down – they wouldn’t let the midwife do it because they didn’t want to mislead the community the maternity ward will be open on weekends if needed.”
Western District Newspapers approached South West Healthcare with questions regarding community concerns around the maternity ward.
A South West Healthcare spokesperson said the birthing service in Camperdown is open 24 hours a day from Monday-Friday as announced in February last year.
“The service is on planned diversion at weekends, or when key staff are on leave,” the spokesperson said.
“Where possible or planned we ensure that there is a patient handover with the Warrnambool team to accommodate this.
“All women attending midwifery appointments in Camperdown or planning to birth in Camperdown should be aware of this.
“We are actively working towards securing the required staffing to provide a weekend service in line with the requirements of staff Enterprise Agreements.”
The spokesperson praised the efforts of the Camperdown Hospital staff during Corinna’s birth.
“It is pleasing to see how the team responded to an unplanned, emergency birth recently,” the spokesperson said.
“However we need to reinforce that we are not able to facilitate planned weekend births at this time.
“We are working very hard to recruit the required staff and will continue to support our teams to deliver a sustainable birthing service for the Camperdown community.”
Corinna said advocacy was needed to increase the hours of the maternity ward, expressing concerns the ward could be shut down as is the case for Timboon and Cobden.
“If there were more circumstances like min e, we need our women to know they and their babies will be safe and they don’t have to deliver on the side of the road trying to get to Colac, Ballarat, Geelong or Warrnambool,” she said.
“It’s really not okay – if anyone has placenta previa, they and their baby could both bleed to death.
“If anyone’s in my circumstances, they might have a seizure because of the shock and pain making their brain shut down.
“We’re in a farming district, so people could fall off a horse, get kicked by a cow or something could happen in the dairy – you just don’t know.
“We need people to know it’s okay, that they can go to their local hospital and the community will be there to support them, not that they have no options.”
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