Women forced to labour in tearoom, run-down wards at NT's busiest hospital

While in labour, Darwin mother Tessa Czislowski had to wait inside the tearoom in Royal Darwin Hospital's maternity ward. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)

Women have reported birthing in run-down rooms, with broken air-conditioning and bathroom doors that won't close, at Royal Darwin Hospital.

One woman told the ABC she had to labour in a public tearoom inside RDH until a birthing suite became available.

Calls for funding to replace the ageing hospital are growing, but the NT's health minister has confirmed a replacement is not on the agenda.

It has been almost a year since Tessa Czislowski spent hours labouring in a tearoom, before staff moved her to a "run-down" birthing room inside the Northern Territory's biggest public hospital.

The Darwin mother was already experiencing intense contractions by the time she reached Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) on a busy night in June last year.

Nurses told her no birthing suites were available and Ms Czislowski said she laboured for an hour in the hospital's corridors.

Eventually, her obstetrician took her to the only available space: the maternity ward tearoom.

Tessa Czislowski says she spent an hour labouring in the hospital's corridor. (Supplied)

Ms Czislowski said another mother was there too, waiting to find out whether her baby's decreased fetal movements meant something was wrong.

"She did an ultrasound with me laying on a couch [and] my husband standing at the door to stop anybody walking in," she said.

Over the next two hours, Ms Czislowski tried to block out the apologetic strangers walking in to make tea or coffee.

The Darwin mother says her labour was constantly interrupted by people walking into the hospital's tearoom and turning on the light. (Supplied)

When a birthing room became available, she said it was cramped and the shared bathroom had a broken showerhead plus a malfunctioning door that left her exposed as she showered and used the toilet.

The maternity facilities at RDH have continued to cop backlash since the Territory's only private maternity ward shut down last year.

Women have reported birthing in hot rooms with broken air-conditioning, and a growing number are choosing to travel interstate to have their babies, or leaving the NT altogether.

Brigid Beilby's baby was born at RDH last month with jaundice.

The local mother said, despite voicing concerns and asking for preventative treatment, she was sent home.

Ms Beilby said, in the space of just two days, her baby's condition worsened.

She rushed back to the hospital's emergency department, where doctors told Ms Beilby her baby coul