PRINCIPLES underpinning maternity reform

Key Principles

“Primary Maternity Services in Australia – A Framework for Implementation (AHMAC 2008)” articulated the following principles which underpin the range of models of maternity care available to women in Australia.  These principles involve:

• ensuring services enable women to make informed and timely choices regarding their maternity care and to feel in control of their birthing experience
• ensuring that maternity services and care are provided in a culturally appropriate and responsive manner according to the individual needs of each woman
• maximising the potential of midwives, obstetricians, general practitioners and where appropriate other health professionals such as paediatricians and Aboriginal health workers specific knowledge, skills and attributes to provide a collaborative, coordinated multidisciplinary approach to maternity service delivery
• offering continuity of care, and wherever possible continuity of carer, as a key element of quality care
• ensuring that maternity services are of a high quality, safe, sustainable and provided within an environment of evidence ­based best practice care
• ensuring continued access to best practice maternity services and care at the local level, while recognising that the benefits of local access must be considered within a quality and safety framework
• providing the right balance between primary level care and access to appropriate levels of medical expertise as clinically required
• working to reduce the health inequalities faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies and other disadvantaged populations.

[This document is Attachment 1 to the draft Safety and Qualitiy Framework for private midwifery, a document which is currently being adopted by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia]