Research shows that continuity of care improves outcomes for women and their babies if they receive continuity of care. This means that a woman is provided either one midwife or a small group of midwives from the very beginning of her motherhood journey – when she falls pregnant. This care usually continues six weeks into the postnatal period.

Currently, only 15% of maternity models of care in Australia are midwifery-based. This is a small figure, and many midwives around Australia are pushing for this number to increase. However, it isn’t just the midwives speaking out. New research published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth found that women would prefer to have continuity of care and have reported positive experiences with the model.

Tanya, a midwife who works in a birth centre in NSW is happy that her workplace has the continuity of care model in place.

“In my 20 years as a midwife, I have seen with my own eyes just how beneficial the continuity of care model is. Many women I have spoken to have told me that when they had a birth with the continuity of care model, as opposed to having a different health practitioner each time they came in, it was a night and day difference,” said Tanya.

This is true for 36-year-old Sydney mum, Trish. She had her first child through the public health care system at a hospital in Sydney and her second child at the same birth clinic that Tanya works at.

“I was so unimpressed with the care I received during the birth of my eldest child. I never saw the same midwife the entire way through, and I felt like I wasn’t being heard. The midwives were all lovely, but I felt like I was just another anonymous pregnant woman. I had placenta previa and ended up delivering via c-section. It wasn’t what I wanted, and I was extremely nervous going into the surgery. Of course, I was just happy that I birthed a healthy baby, but the post-natal care wasn’t made easier by not having one doctor or midwife. I felt like no one ever got to know me – it wasn’t personal”.

Tanya felt a sense of trauma after the birth of her first child and was reluctant to go through the same system to have her second.

“A girlfriend had recently given birth at a birthing centre in Sydney with a continuity of care model. She had the same midwife from the beginning until 6-weeks postpartum. I gave birth there with my second child, too, and had such a positive experience. The midwife assigned to me was lovely, gentle, and understanding. She got to know me along the journey and even advocated for me to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean section),” said Trish.

Some of the known benefits of the continuity of care model are less need for medical interventions, being more likely to have a vaginal birth and more likely to successfully breastfeed your baby.

“I honestly don’t know why the Australian healthcare system isn’t adopting this model of care throughout all birthing centres and hospitals around the country. We know that it works and that this is what women want.

Former midwife and now Independent MP for the Victorian seat of Indi told the ABC last year that both the government and hospitals need to be willing to give midwifery group programs a try.

“Governments need to hear clearly calls from the community that this is what they want and then government working with, with departments of health and consumers needs to be brave enough to change the status quo” said Dr Haines.