❓ The Minister for Health outlines the government's initiatives to expand maternity care options in WA, focusing on continuity of care through endorsed midwifery models and infrastructure improvements.
AnsweredQoN 570Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH — MATERNITY CARE
570. Ms H.M. BEAZLEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's commitment to expanding maternity care options for women
in Western Australia.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government is delivering more maternity
care options for WA women?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house why providing continuity of care for Western Australian
women having babies is so important?
570. Ms H.M. BEAZLEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's commitment to expanding maternity care options for women
in Western Australia.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government is delivering more maternity
care options for WA women?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house why providing continuity of care for Western Australian
women having babies is so important?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Victoria Park
for her question. I have to say that I am very excited about this program.
Members know that one of my focuses as Minister for Health is extending
reproductive care and ensuring that Western Australian women have the same
options that women have in other similar jurisdictions. I want to ensure that
we still have excellent high-quality care and a broad range of birthing
choices. That is something I am very focused on in this portfolio.
(1)–(2) We
know that the northern and southern suburbs both have access to a family
birthing centre, but there is currently not an equivalent in the east. When I became
minister, I wrote to all the board chairs of health service providers that
deliver maternity services and asked that they provide improved access for
privately practising endorsed midwives to
allow women to have a greater choice of care. Credit to the east—they have
gone one step further and have developed an endorsed midwifery model that is
fully run in the public system. This means
that an endorsed midwife will be a woman's midwife from the first
appointment , to birth and all the way through to postnatal care as well.
This is a genuine continuity of care model with outstanding evidence. We also
know that it helps reduce rates of unnecessary clinical intervention. Western Australia
has some of the highest rates of birth intervention and with that comes rates
of trauma, stress and postnatal depression. When women are supported and cared
for by skilled midwives from the beginning all the way through, they tend to
have great post-birth outcomes
I was very glad to join some excited
midwives and an excited mother who was about to have her fourth baby. Endorsed
midwives are highly skilled practitioners—they require the midwifery
qualification plus extra skills. They can
prescribe—sorry, I am a little taken aback by what is happening here,
Madam Speaker . Some forewarning would have been helpful!
The SPEAKER : Sorry, I will
just interrupt for a moment. I did announce yesterday that I had given
permission to staff to take photos this
week. If we want to use photos in our publications such as the annual report or
in our social media, the quality of a still from the video is not very
high. I did say this week that I was giving staff permission to take some
photos around the chamber.
Ms A. SANDERSON : Thank you,
Madam Speaker, for the clarification. Apologies for missing that.
They can order ultrasound scans and
prescribe and they have a high level of scope of practice. There will also be a
midwifery hub, which means that midwives will have live birthing data, access
to obstetricians and specialists across the east metro in Armadale and Midland
as well. This is going to be a really important part of our maternity fabric in
the eastern suburbs. There will also be two birthing pools to give women the
option of water births.
This is part of an overall expansion
of maternity care and maternity care models that we are focused on delivering
for women in Western Australia. There will also be a world-class tertiary,
maternity and newborn's hospital at the Murdoch site, the expansion at
Osborne Park, the doubling of maternity graduates and the
creation of a brand new family birthing
centre. We are also delivering midwifery group practice models, which are also
midwifery-led models of care, at Armadale, Bridgetown, Broome, Bunbury,
Collie, Fiona Stanley Hospital, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women,
Margaret River, Northam and Warren Health Service. I want to thank everyone who
has been involved in this. We are recruiting now and I am very excited to see
this service up and running next year.
for her question. I have to say that I am very excited about this program.
Members know that one of my focuses as Minister for Health is extending
reproductive care and ensuring that Western Australian women have the same
options that women have in other similar jurisdictions. I want to ensure that
we still have excellent high-quality care and a broad range of birthing
choices. That is something I am very focused on in this portfolio.
(1)–(2) We
know that the northern and southern suburbs both have access to a family
birthing centre, but there is currently not an equivalent in the east. When I became
minister, I wrote to all the board chairs of health service providers that
deliver maternity services and asked that they provide improved access for
privately practising endorsed midwives to
allow women to have a greater choice of care. Credit to the east—they have
gone one step further and have developed an endorsed midwifery model that is
fully run in the public system. This means
that an endorsed midwife will be a woman's midwife from the first
appointment , to birth and all the way through to postnatal care as well.
This is a genuine continuity of care model with outstanding evidence. We also
know that it helps reduce rates of unnecessary clinical intervention. Western Australia
has some of the highest rates of birth intervention and with that comes rates
of trauma, stress and postnatal depression. When women are supported and cared
for by skilled midwives from the beginning all the way through, they tend to
have great post-birth outcomes
I was very glad to join some excited
midwives and an excited mother who was about to have her fourth baby. Endorsed
midwives are highly skilled practitioners—they require the midwifery
qualification plus extra skills. They can
prescribe—sorry, I am a little taken aback by what is happening here,
Madam Speaker . Some forewarning would have been helpful!
The SPEAKER : Sorry, I will
just interrupt for a moment. I did announce yesterday that I had given
permission to staff to take photos this
week. If we want to use photos in our publications such as the annual report or
in our social media, the quality of a still from the video is not very
high. I did say this week that I was giving staff permission to take some
photos around the chamber.
Ms A. SANDERSON : Thank you,
Madam Speaker, for the clarification. Apologies for missing that.
They can order ultrasound scans and
prescribe and they have a high level of scope of practice. There will also be a
midwifery hub, which means that midwives will have live birthing data, access
to obstetricians and specialists across the east metro in Armadale and Midland
as well. This is going to be a really important part of our maternity fabric in
the eastern suburbs. There will also be two birthing pools to give women the
option of water births.
This is part of an overall expansion
of maternity care and maternity care models that we are focused on delivering
for women in Western Australia. There will also be a world-class tertiary,
maternity and newborn's hospital at the Murdoch site, the expansion at
Osborne Park, the doubling of maternity graduates and the
creation of a brand new family birthing
centre. We are also delivering midwifery group practice models, which are also
midwifery-led models of care, at Armadale, Bridgetown, Broome, Bunbury,
Collie, Fiona Stanley Hospital, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women,
Margaret River, Northam and Warren Health Service. I want to thank everyone who
has been involved in this. We are recruiting now and I am very excited to see
this service up and running next year.
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