We just found out that Midwifery Led Continuity of Care has been omitted.

Hi everyone,

We recently wrote to the NSAMS planning committee to clarify where they currently stand on Midwifery Led Continuity of Care. We were surprised and amazed from their response, denying Australian women, maternity health consumers and their families, access to Midwife-Led Continuity of Care. They will still promote Continuity of Care, with a variety of carers (including midwives) but under this model, we may end up with even less midwives leading maternity care than what we have now (less than 8% across Australia). See their response below:  

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NSAMS planning committee statement:

"The draft document Towards woman-centred care - Strategic directions for Australian maternity services is currently being finalised by the Project Reference Group.

Feedback in the consultations has been supportive of continuity of care meaning that there should be a shared understanding of care pathways by all health professionals involved in a women’s care, with the aim of reducing fragmented care and conflicting advice. While there is evidence that midwifery continuity of care improves outcomes for low-risk women and in low-resource settings, the document presents a high-level approach to improving maternity services rather than specifying models of care. The health professionals involved in a woman’s care will vary depending on her needs and preferences and the time at which care is being provided so health professions are not specified in the enablers."

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Unfortunately, they are naive in their assertions - real continuity of care cannot be delivered by all healthcare professionals. GPs who were the main driver of this decision, alongside Obstetricians and GP Obstetricians (they lobbied via the AMA because they were feeling that midwives were taking over and they would loose their part of the pie) - cannot deliver true Continuity of Care, primarily since GPs simply do not attend births (and do not have any education in this area). Obstetricians on the other hand, who may be able to offer continuity of care, cannot offer quality (the type of care consumers want) continuity of care, because they are limited in time and understanding of the natural physiological process innate to childbirth. There is also an inherent issue with how maternity care is funded and how medicare rebates work which will directly drive the preference of certain carers over others (midwives, as you guess, are low on the funding list). We therefor see the NSAMS planning committee decision to remove this important definition from the plan as a detriment to maternity health consumers and not, a benefit. 

We are going into phase two of this campaign and are now seeking short 30 second - 1min video statements by families and professionals in support of Midwifery-Led Continuity of Care, specifically. Please email us at hello@pbbmedia.org for full instructions. 

We are also seeking additional support in getting the word out to as many maternity consumers as possible - influencers, professionals with some skills/time to share (graphic, social media, admin etc) for the next two weeks, will be greatly appreciated! Please send through your details to annalee@pbbmedia.org.

Please share this campaign with your friends and family and far and wide on social media. Share your statement on Midwifery Led Continuity of Care with a short video or written statement on social media (make it public if you want to share with us all) and hashtag #SAVEAussieMLCoC 

All the work we do at PBB Media is 100% not-for-profit and 100% volunteer-run and our most important agenda for this campaign is ensuring families have access to the model of care of their choice. 

Stay strong! Consumers will have the last word! 

The team at PBB Media