An embattled Queensland regional hospital has lost its accreditation to train doctors in general surgery.
A decision by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to withdraw the Mackay Base Hospital's general surgical training accreditation follows the sacking of the Mackay Hospital and Health board.
It also comes more than a year after the hospital lost its accreditation to train obstetricians and gynaecologists ahead of a maternity review that found woman had suffered "lifelong physical and mental harm" because of substandard clinical care.
Mackay Hospital and Health Service Chief Medical Officer Charles Pain said the hospital had been given a set of recommendations from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
"We're working with the college on those, and we will be implementing those over the next few months.
"That means until we meet those recommendations, we won't have training registrars training surgeons here in our department of surgery."
A spokesperson from the hospital said the decision, which has just been made public, was made in January.
However, Dr Pain thinks the addition of two new obstetricians next month should lift morale and future prospects of a secure and safe workforce.
The hospital's obstetrics and maternity unit was recently investigated by an independent committee, with findings indicating "inadequate care" led to the death of three babies.
One of these deaths was nearly 10 years ago, but the investigation predominantly focused on the period spanning July 1, 2019 - October 31, 2021.
The report found dozens of women suffered physical and mental lifelong injuries, some of which included 21 cases of bladder, ureter and bowel injuries.
During a meeting with Health Minister Y'vette D'ath in November, one woman was reduced to tears recounting how a doctor had lied to her, telling her it was her fault her bladder split open during surgery.
Dr Pain was appointed as the new chief medical officer late last year.
Pulled accreditations
Dr Pain acknowledged the hospital's turbulent history.
He says the focus is on recruiting more senior staff to enable the hospital to become a training centre again for surgery, obstetrics and maternity, which would encourage both teaching doctors and students to bolster numbers.
"Next month we have two new obstetricians coming to join us," Dr Pain said.
"By the end of the year we would hope to have another two which would bring us up to six or seven which is getting towards the level the college is expecting us to have," he said.
Dr Pain insisted that the hospital could still offer all the necessary services without the help of the training registrars or training surgeons.
He said existing surgeons would continue to cover the gaps.
However the hospital is still in the process of recruiting a new urologist, after Daryl Stephens was suspended amid an investigation.
Urology patients are now being treated at the hospital by doctors coming in from Cairns.
Hiring practitioners with bad records
Dr Pain said health services scrutinise recruitment very closely.
"That responsibility falls a great deal on me ... we have a rigorous process for that."
He said the scarcity of highly credentialed workers is creating difficulties.
"[But] we have to still maintain our high standards of recruitment and security," he said.
"As you can imagine there are some wider workforce shortages."
The ABC has sought a response from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
