The delivery of babies at the hospital ceased in March, 2022 following the departure of the last medical officer with obstetrics expertise.

The petition, was launched earlier this month, by Muswellbrook resident and mother Paige Sawkins on behalf of the Mothers of Muswellbrook.

It states that in a thriving mining town contributing billions to our economy, it's disheartening to see the lack of options for women's healthcare. Muswellbrook deserves a maternity ward and continuity of care for expectant mothers.

"The harsh reality is that the nearest hospital, Singleton, is over 45 minutes away, and depending on traffic, it could be even more. Navigating this distance during labor is a significant challenge, jeopardizing the well-being of both mothers and newborns."

According to Mrs Sawkins Muswellbrook needs funding for an obstetrician to facilitate local birthing options, a midwifery group practice program or publicly funded home birth for low risk women.

Having experienced the stress of having to travel to Singleton for antenatal care and then the birth of her nine-months old child Mrs Sawkins said research shows how much better it is for the mother and baby to give birth locally.

"Before my child was born I had anxiety at the thought of travelling from my home in Muswellbrook to Singleton during that peak afternoon period around 3:00pm in full labour," she said.

"I did not want to give birth in a car because we were stuck in traffic on the highway. We have also heard from one mother Chloe, who gave birth to her fourth child in the toilet at the hospital's emergency department.

"Expectant mothers and their babies are placed at risk without the return of this service to the Muswellbrook Hospital."

Hunter New England Local Health District spokesperson said Hunter New England Local Health District is committed to providing compassionate, high quality, safe maternity care for the Muswellbrook community.

We understand and acknowledge women want to give birth as close to home as possible and we apologise that this currently is not achievable at Muswellbrook Hospital.

Muswellbrook Hospital continues to provide maternity care, including:

. routine antenatal care and education

. postnatal care (post-discharge from birthing facility)

. breastfeeding and infant feeding support

. well baby checks and baby weighs

"Women in the Upper Hunter region at present have the option to birth at either Scone or Singleton hospitals," they said.

"Women who require a higher level of care are able to birth at Maitland or John Hunter hospitals.

"We're committed to restoring birthing services at Muswellbrook Hospital as soon as we are safely able to do so. We have and continue to actively work to attract obstetrics coverage in Muswellbrook, since the departure of the GP visiting medical officer in March 2022.

"Recruitment for obstetricians in rural and regional locations is an ongoing challenge faced nationally."

Mrs Sawkins said she understood the difficulties finding qualified staff but having adequate healthcare in a town like Muswellbrook was the bare minimum.

To ease her anxiety during her pregnancy and later the birth she engaged a private midwife to make home visits during her pregnancy and became a patient of a Singleton GP who would deliver her baby.

"I even looked into home births but the costs was prohibitive," she said.

"All we want is a return of a service the town once had and that could start with a midwifery group practice."

Local MP Dave Lasyzell says he fully supports the community's call for the service to be returned.

"At the moment mothers are having their babies at either Singleton or Maitland or if there are identified risks the the John Hunter Hospital," he said.

"Once born and stabilised they can transfer back to Muswellbrook to finish their recovery.

"However, we are in desperate need for an obstetrics GP in the town. This is something that the Federal Government needs to help with. We need better incentives for obstetrics GPs to work from the town.

"We are in a similar position as many regional areas but we need the local skills available to be called upon to deliver babies. We are not seeing the development of the next generation of Obstetrics GP's who are willing to work in the State Hospital system. Delivering babies is core business for our hospitals and we need all stakeholders to work to together to resolve the current situation in Muswellbrook and the long term situation for regional Australia."