A stint in the big smoke for clinicians working maternity wards across isolated parts of Queensland could help them stay in the bush longer.
The state government will trial sending doctors and midwives to city and interstate hospitals to maintain their skills in a move it hopes will help it hire more staff and keep them.
It comes after a review of the rural maternity services found the rate of stillbirth and newborn deaths was 1.7 times higher in very remote Queensland compared to inner and outer regional areas.
A decline in maternity services has put women and their unborn children at further risk by forcing pregnant women to drive long distances to reach a hospital or give birth on the side of the road.
Ministerial approval will now be needed before services can be cut further and health facilities will have two years to review what they offer as the government looks to improve and reopen some birthing centres.
