Did you know that Queensland and Tasmania remain the only states in Australia to not offer publicly funded homebirth?

As part of the QNMU's Count the Babies campaign, we are calling on the Queensland Government to introduce publicly funded homebirth services to allow skilled midwives to provide maternity services for women where and when they are required – particularly in rural and remote areas.

Homebirth is a safe option for healthy women with low-risk pregnancies wishing to birth in the home, and who can transfer to hospital if needed.

Homebirth is not for everyone, but women in Queensland – and the midwives who care for them – are calling for the option to be made available.

Is homebirth as safe as hospital care?

• Yes. Homebirth for low-risk women has been associated with fewer birth interventions, positive maternal experiences, a reduction in hospital resources and costs, at no greater risk of neonatal mortality or morbidity.
• Studies show women who have a homebirth are signficantly more likely to have a normal vaginal birth, and less likely to lose more than 500 mL of blood.
• Studies also show infants born during homebirth are significantly less likely to require resuscitation, more likely to be normal birthweight, and exclusively receive breastmilk on discharge from homebirth.

Who provides homebirth care?

• Safe homebirth care – which involves pregnancy, birth and postnatal care – is provided by a midwife, either publicly or privately practicing.
• Midwives are highly trained and regulated health professionals. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia sets out a robust regulatory framework to support the safe and professional practice of midwives attending homebirths. 
• In addition to their midwifery entry to practice study, midwives who provide homebirth services are also required to complete education and/or training in obstetric emergency management, as well as an adult basic life support course and a newborn resuscitation course consistent with the Australian and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation’s guidelines.
• Midwives bring a wide range of skills but also equipment to births including dopplers, resuscitation equipment for parent and baby, drugs to manage emergencies, blood pressure monitoring equipment, suturing equipment, intravenous equipment, waterbirth equipment and scales for every birth.

Having publicly funded homebirth is about increasing women’s access to the care they want at all stages of their pregnancy, birth and beyond.

Having a trained midwife at each step of the way (continuity of care) leads to greater numbers of normal births, fewer interventions, healthier parents and babies, and less preterm and neonatal deaths.

Click here  to download a PDF informational flyer on homebirth.

Read more about the QNMU's Count the Babies campaign at www.qnmu.org.au/CountTheBabies. 


References

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