Grave fears maternity care 'getting worse' in regional Queensland

There are grave concerns maternity care failings persist in regional Queensland more than a year after a bombshell report uncovering babies had died as a result.

Grieving parents Jenna and Andrew McGregor lost Hugo five days after he was born in March last year due to poor care at Mackay Hospital.

They spoke exclusively to 9News yesterday, sharing the heartbreaking story of how their son suffered catastrophic brain injuries from the birthing process.

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A 2022 Queensland Health review found 34 failures at the hospital, including some leading to the deaths of three babies.

Mr McGregor claimed the standard of care had not changed.

"The hospital is clearly not capable of change as it is given the previous government reports into them and nothing has changed so what options do people have," he said.

"Queenslanders deserve better."

National Association of Specialist Obstetrician and Gynaecologists president Dr Gino Pecoraro voiced similar concerns.

"Hopefully now as we can see the situation isn't improving but actually getting worse that they take it seriously," he said.

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Opposition Leader David Crisafulli called for answers.

"They have paid the price for systemic failures, for nobody following through what they said they were going to do," he said.

"What they want is the knowledge that they never have to go through what they went through."

Premier Steven Miles insisted maternity care at Mackay had improved since the report.

"There's a range of initiatives in place from training to cultural change programs," he said.

"I believe they are working and that Mackay mothers are having a better experience at Mackay HHS."