The Australian College of Midwives and Australian College of Nursing jointly call on the Queensland Government to continue to support evidence-based, clinically and culturally safe maternity care in the upcoming budget.
Queensland is a leader in Midwifery Group Practice model of care, with 26 per cent of women accessing such services.
International evidence confirms that midwife-led models of care are a collaborative team-based form of care, and the ‘gold standard’ in maternity care.
They lead to equivalent or better outcomes for women and gender diverse people with a low-risk pregnancy, including fewer stillbirths, newborn loss and preterm births; fewer interventions such as regional anaesthesia and instrumental birth; and a higher chance of vaginal birth than standard models of care.
Midwives are expertly trained to care for women experiencing a normal pregnancy, birth and postpartum journey and are specifically trained to identify and escalate to a multidisciplinary team when this changes. The midwife will continue to provide care in these scenarios in collaboration with other professionals, such as an obstetrician. Midwife-led models work in conjunction and collaboration with a multidisciplinary team. Midwives follow the Australian College of Midwives’ national consultation and referral guidelines and escalate care to the appropriate maternity team members when required, to provide safe and coordinated maternity care.
It is important that people are supported to choose from a variety of safe, quality models of care for maternity care and birth.
