Birth care fear - mums face shortage as obstetricians retire

Two of Bendigo's specialists, Dr Peter Roessler and Dr Robin Monro, said yesterday while the region had been lucky to date, existing obstetricians were reaching retirement age.

With few entering the profession, finding replacements could be difficult, they warned.

Dr Peter Roessler said while Bendigo wasn't "flush with obstetricians", there would not be a real problem until present specialists started to retire, within five to 10 years.

He said there were five obstetricians in Bendigo - Dr Roessler, aged in his early 40s, two in their early 50s and two others, aged 58 and 60.

"A few of us will be around for another 20 years, but the majority will only be practising for the next five or 10 years," he said.

Dr Roessler said while the problem in regional Victoria could be a result of specialists' reluctance to leave Melbourne, the real issue was the low intake into the profession.

Medical indemnity insurance and unpredictable work hours were two of the factors deterring prospective obstetricians, Dr Roessler said.

He said obstetricians faced long hours and were on call seven days a week.

A usual day for Dr Roessler consists of 12 hours of routine work, from 7.30 am to 7.30 pm, plus his on-call work, which usually takes up three out of five nights.

"It is an extremely demanding job; one of the challenges is the hours we put in and the safety issues the hours create for ourselves and the patients," Dr Roessler said.

"It is one of the vagaries of our job, but we are all aware of it when we get into it."

He said there was little that could be done about this.

"People are still going to have babies and they are still going to need care in the middle of the night," he said.

He said in recent times, obstetrics had received a "bad rap" with medical indemnity insurance.

"The indemnity insurance issue has made people less interested; obstetricians are leaving earlier and others are not joining," he said.

However, Dr Robin Monro, a Bendigo obstetrician for 27 years, said one solution to the lifestyle difficulties was to have a rotating on-call system, with obstetricians on call for eight hours at a time.

He said this would relieve pressure on specialists and make the career more attractive to new doctors.

"But it would only work if we could attract more people into the profession," he said.

While Dr Monro admitted there was no easy solution, he said if nothing was done, fewer regional centres would offer obstetrics care.

"Mothers will be faced with the prospect of having to travel long distances for specialist support," he said.

A number of medical organisations have also spoken out about the issue this week.

The Rural Doctors Association and the Health Services Union called on the Victorian Government to step in.

Rural Doctor's Association president Dr Mike Moynihan said while rural practices would be hardest hit, the situation in regional centres was "far from secure".

Health Services Union state secretary Jeff Jackson said the emerging crisis had resulted because state and federal governments had failed to provide strong enough incentives to get obstetricians into rural areas.