Organiser Kimberly Kettle said the service, which allows a woman to see the same midwife during pregnancy, birth and as a new mum – at home if desired – was “invaluable”.

“It’s cheaper in the long run – cheaper in general – to have these services,” she said.

“It’s such good community care to make your birth easier and a smoother ride. You get the care throughout [pregnancy], during birth and after birth.”

Tamworth area families are worried the service is being brought to a close, but hospital general manager Catharine Death has said in a statement it is simply “unable to accept new women into [the] community midwifery program while we seek to recruit to vacant positions across the maternity service”.

Sheree Alderton was an MGP midwife for two years before retiring four years ago and said it was “irreplaceable”.

“The 24/7 care you can give a woman is not replaceable with anything else,” she said.

“In the middle of the night if you had a query about a worry, you could ring that person and be free to speak to them, whereas going through the system [at the hospital] you have to wait.

“If you have a real worry you can come up to the hospital and get seen, but some of the worries don’t need to take time off ward people.

“The ability to go out and check the women when they’re in early labour and stay with them if need to be helped … that sort of support, the hospital can’t provide in their ordinary services.”

Mrs Kettle said even a short hiatus in the program would lead to less continuity of care, more stress for pregnant women, more medical intervention at birth, and more pressure on hospital facilities and staff.

She said the support shown for the service since the issue cropped up was “amazing … it’s been booming”.

“We want to hold off the hiatus for as long as we can and show them how invaluable it is to us.”