Greens MLA Jo Clay’s motion in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday was the mother of all motions: a five-page proposal for better maternity services and birthing centres in the ACT. And it delivered.
“When implemented, this package will give people more choices – to give birth at home, or in a hospital ward, or in a hospital birth centre, or in a freestanding birth centre,” Ms Clay, Greens spokesperson for women, said. “And they will be able to choose to do this with a known and trusted midwife that they have been seeing throughout their pregnancy.”
Northside Canberra will have a freestanding birth centre, co-designed by midwives, located alongside or separate from the new northside hospital. The design will be released in August 2024.
The ACT has two birth centres inside hospitals, but they are full and oversubscribed, Ms Clay said. Canberra has no freestanding birth centre, even though one has been mooted since the 1920s.
Canberra women and midwives have called for a freestanding midwife-led family birth centre separate to a hospital for more than 30 years, Ms Clay noted: ACT for Birth lobbied for a freestanding birth facility in the 1980s, while this week Ms Clay tabled two petitions with more than 30,000 signatures.
- Jo Clay tables petition for freestanding birth centre in ACT (7 February)
- Op-ed: Give women the choice about where to give birth (1 February)
A freestanding birth centre will relieve pressure on hospitals, be cheaper for government than a hospital birth, and keep healthy people out of hospital, while many midwives want to work in one, Ms Clay argued.
Midwife-led continuity of care will be extended to 75 per cent of women by 2032. This will reduce premature births, and is more likely to make birth a positive experience, Ms Clay said.
The government will talk to midwives and Indigenous elders and community members to develop an ACT-specific Birthing on Country model for care: a culturally safe space for Indigenous women to give birth, Ms Clay said. While Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service provides some antenatal and postnatal services, there are no Birthing on Country models of care for Indigenous women that offer midwife-led, culturally safe continuity of care available at all hours.
Homebirth will be an option for northside women and first-time mothers, as a 2019 home birth trial review recommended.
The government will embed the Respectful Maternity Care Charter into training for all medical staff who care for pregnant women.
It will also offer Alexander Maconochie Centre detainees Circle of Security training, a parenting program to enhance attachment and security between parents and children.
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