General News
24 October, 2022
Health service launches new maternity model of care to ensure parents can give birth locally
“Not only has this team developed a safe and sustainable model that meets the needs of local families, they have gone beyond — creating a new benchmark for regional maternity care that’s the first of its kind in Victoria. To see the benefits...
The Maryborough District Health Service (MDHS) has celebrated the 20th baby born under its new “gold standard” model of maternity care, which ensures local women can give birth in their community.
Introduced in May, the Midwife Group Practice — Case Load Model of Care, also known as the Maryborough Model, was designed to better meet the needs of the community following a temporary pause of the health service’s birthing suites in early 2021.
The pause was a result of difficulties in sourcing new midwives to replace outgoing staff at MDHS and meant local women had to travel to Ballarat or Bendigo to give birth, with the service unable to operate 24/7 even when it was running due to limited staffing.
The first of its kind, the model sees a primary midwife provide care for women from pregnancy through to early parenting, with the midwife supported by a wider team of midwives and a collaborative healthcare team including an obstetric consultant and GP obstetricians.
MDHS CEO Nickola Allan said the new model was a “benchmark” for maternity care in regional Victoria.
“Our extraordinary midwifery team spent three years working with Australia’s leading maternity experts and gained input from more than 70 local families on the kind of care they want and need as they bring their babies into the world,” she said.
“Not only has this team developed a safe and sustainable model that meets the needs of local families, they have gone beyond — creating a new benchmark for regional maternity care that’s the first of its kind in Victoria. To see the benefits flow so quickly for our local families through their pregnancy journey is very moving.
“This new model is just one part of our strategy to put the patient experience, innovation and community health outcomes at the heart of a major transformation at MDHS over the next four years.”
The Maryborough Model was developed by a broad governance committee including representatives from the Department of Health, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and Safer Care Victoria and was co-designed with midwives, GPs and obstetricians locally and from across the region.
Ms Allan said since the model was implemented, access to the local maternity service has been steadily growing.
“We’re seeing really healthy numbers of women booking in, each month it’s growing. It’s really starting to gain traction,” she said.
“It’s so lovely to hear those little cries in the hallways, and to know they get to go home to a familiar environment in a supported way.”
One local resident to access the service is first time mum Chloe Wardlaw, who had her first baby, Bonnie, at the Maryborough Hospital just over five weeks ago.
After she was referred to MDHS to discuss her birth plan, Chloe and her partner Mitch connected straight away with primary midwife Rhiannan Haintz.
“She made us feel comfortable and supported and was available 24/7 for any questions we had,” Chloe said.
“Rhi and the team became such a big part of our life and the care we received from everyone was amazing.
“We’re incredibly lucky to have that sort of care and can’t speak highly enough of the experience we had.”
The local maternity service will continue to expand as part of the $100 million redevelopment of the Maryborough Hospital, with two new birthing suites to allow more mothers to give birth close to home.
MDHS maternity services coordinator Tina Pettigrew said the model of care was “gold standard”.
“This model of maternity care is one of the only models to demonstrate a range of improvements in perinatal decay, still birth, low birth weight babies and premature birth,” she said.
“We knew these were challenges that were real and disproportionate for the demographic of women that we care for here in the Central Goldfields.
“The Maryborough Model, by its definition and the way it’s been structured, is care that is tailored for each woman’s unique needs instead of circumstances.
“The model is gold standard care, we wanted nothing but the best for our women.”
