Nightmare: Bree Steele, who suffered an undiagnosed miscarriage, with Adelaide,

BREE Steele's shocking experience at Cairns Base Hospital is another tragic example of why the Far North is long overdue for a new, better-equipped hospital.

Mrs Steele has urged the community to add their voice to The Cairns Post campaign for a new hospital by signing petitions to lobby the State Government to act now.

Mrs Steele went to the Cairns Base Hospital emergency department the week before Christmas, with symptoms of an undiagnosed miscarriage.

She was 13 weeks pregnant but was later told by her doctor
that the fetus had died at eight weeks.

The mother of Adelaide, 1, said she was forced to wait six hours at the hospital and was eventually told to go home.

She then spent another two days trying to get medical help through the hospital.

Later she was told the hospital could not provide the treatment she required to remove the fetus, she told The Cairns Post.

Eventually, on the advice of a midwife at the hospital, she went to Townsville for the surgery, which took only 15 minutes a day later.

"I didn’t realise there was a problem with the hospital until I had to use it," Mrs Steele, 22, said.

"It was traumatic event that was made worse.

"I was in a totally desperate situation and no one could help me."

Queensland Health last night confirmed Mrs Steele had experienced a long wait, and had been told she would have to wait until the following week for an appointment to have the miscarried fetus removed.

"Queensland Health deeply sympathises with Ms Steele’s loss, and recognises what a deeply distressing experience this would have been for her," a Queensland Health spokesman said.

"Queensland Health regrets that her experience with the health system was not to her
satisfaction.

"While we appreciate how difficult it would have been for Ms Steele, the emergency department at Cairns Base Hospital was extremely busy that night, seeing 135 patients, which is more than the average daily attendance of 110 patients."

Mrs Steele said staff at the Cairns Base Hospital had their hands tied by a lack of facilities and resources.

"I really hope this campaign comes to something because there would be other women out there like me," she said.

"The hospital needs the services to cope with special needs."

"They can’t just rebuild the same hospital at a different location because we need more than that."