Alarm as nursing cuts leave High Country town without after-hours care

Sue Carroll with Deborah Martinez and her daughter. (Supplied: Deborah Martinez)

Swifts Creek in Victoria's High Country is an hour and a half drive from the nearest hospital and depends on its Bush Nursing Centre for medical care.

The centre is reducing access to out-of-hours care after recent nurse pay rises and a lack of funding from the Department of Health.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service is trialling a service that connects Swifts Creek to the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department.

When Deborah Martinez began haemorrhaging late at night in the small town of Swifts Creek, in Victoria's High Country, the only person she could call was the bush nurse.

At 36 weeks pregnant, Ms Martinez's water broke about 10:30pm.

With Ms Martinez in pain and concerned for herself and her unborn baby, nurse Sue Carroll quickly determined the situation was life-threatening.

"We were both in a bit of danger, and I was experiencing something called a placental abruption, where my placenta had come away from my uterine wall, and I was haemorrhaging," Ms Martinez said.

But the service will no longer provide out-of-hours care because of a lack of funding from Victoria's Department of Health.

A pay rise to public sector nurses and midwives in their latest enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) means the centre's funding no longer covers overtime and penalty rates.

The Victorian government funds the centre to provide care from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday.

Ms Martinez said during her care at home, Ms Carroll liaised with the local hospital and ambulance service to arrange transport as her condition worsened.

Ambulance shortages in the High Country meant Ms Martinez faced a long wait while haemorrhaging before eventually meeting paramedics about halfway to Bairnsdale Hospital.

"We are so lucky to be able to, or have been so lucky to be able to, access support so far away."

The main street of Swifts Creek, in Victoria's High Country. (ABC News: Madeleine Stuchbery)

The Swifts Creek Bush Nursing Centre in East Gippsland has delivered nurse-led healthcare since 1918 and is now a locally supported not-for-profit that provides care to the remote community.

Tony Skelton is among the many locals who rely on the centre for emergency healthcare.

"I'd pulled a tree down on myself and broke five ribs and split my kidney in half … I could not have been taken by road. So that sort of shows us how isolated we are," Mr Skelton said.

At 75 and still working, Mr Skelton fears health outcomes will worsen for the region's aging population.

"And there's a whole lot of people