Rural women who have to travel to hospitals for birthing often feel they lack the comfort and reassurance of a familiar face of a health practitioner who knows them, their circumstances and their history well.
This project commenced with a Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) team to provide continuity of care for First Nations women across the South Burnett. Through the program, a pregnant woman is provided with a midwife who will accompany her at every step of her journey, including antenatal appointments, childbirth and postnatal care.
The MGP program gives women the comfort and reassurance of a familiar face who knows them, their circumstances and their history well, and it gives midwives greater job satisfaction by getting to know the mums in their care and being able to see them through this amazing chapter in their lives.
As the service continues to grow and develop it will continue to be responsive to the First Nations community, including additional outcomes and innovations such as
- working with local, community-led structures like Gundoo and Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council, to deliver where community are able to lead changes in process. The team wants to better understand the qualitative benefits of this work to continually improve as well as developing better understanding of the operational implications for quality maternal and child health care in First nations communities like Cherbourg.
