Rural Maternity

Queensland Health engages with key stakeholders to provide safe and sustainable woman-centred maternity care as close as possible to where home is.

The Rural Maternity Taskforce was established from August 2018 to August 2019 and consisted of a panel of rural consumers, maternity experts, clinicians and health service decision-makers, led by Dr John Wakefield, as the then Deputy-Director General, Clinical Excellence Queensland, Queensland Health. The Taskforce was established at the request of The Honourable Steven Miles MP, as the then Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services to:

  • engage with key stakeholders in rural and remote Queensland regarding access to and provision of safe and sustainable woman-centred care
  • gain an understanding of the issues, concerns, and expectations in those communities
  • enable the development of appropriate recommendations that support and enable the provision of suitable woman-centred care as close as possible to where women live, whilst enabling good outcomes for mothers and babies in rural and remote communities.

Taskforce achievements:

The Rural Maternity Taskforce Report (PDF, 3.2 MB) was provided to the Queensland Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services on 17 June 2019.

At the centre of the Taskforce’s report are the rural women, their babies and the clinicians that work with them.

The report makes 6 recommendations to address issues and concerns with the safety and access of rural and remote maternity services.

The Taskforce undertook extensive consultation in developing its report and recommendations. It held five stakeholder engagement forums in rural and remote Queensland, and a public submission process that received a total of 309 written submissions. Data analysis was undertaken looking at the safety and accessibility of rural and remote maternity services.

The Taskforce would like to acknowledge all those who contributed through consultation to the Taskforce’s report.

The Rural Maternity Implementation Oversight Committee was established in September 2019 as a time-limited committee with the remit to:

  • develop and oversee an overarching Rural Maternity Recommendations - Implementation plan (PDF, 582 KB) that articulates actions aligned to the six recommendations made by the Rural Maternity Taskforce and associated ministerial commitments
  • oversee the piloting, refining, and implementation of the Queensland Rural and Remote Maternity Services Planning Framework.

The co-chairs of the Oversight Committee were Ms Lisa Davies-Jones, Health Service Chief Executive, Mackay Hospital and Health Service and Professor Rebecca Kimble, Medical Lead, Quality Improvement, Clinical Excellence Queensland.

Membership of the Oversight Committee consisted of representatives of consumers, Hospital and Health Services, relevant clinical areas, and Department of Health Divisions. The secretariat was provided by Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Service, Clinical Excellence Queensland.

The Oversight Committee held its last meeting on 5 November 2021 as its role in implementing the recommendations are completed. Achievements and the transition to business as usual for ongoing activities are outlined in the Rural Maternity Recommendations Implementation – Project Close Report, which was endorsed by the Queensland Health Executive Leadership Team in March 2022.

The Queensland Rural and Remote Maternity Services Planning Framework: a toolkit for collaboration, consultation and co-design (PDF, 829 KB) is a resource to support Hospital and Health Services (HHSs) work collaboratively with their consumers and clinicians to provide comprehensive, woman-centred approaches to maternity service planning. Its purpose is to help with the review, assessment and co-design of maternity services.

The Framework is intended to complement existing organisational and workforce-specific policies and guidelines such as the health service planning tools, workforce planning tools, and the Maternity Services Decision Making Framework (DMF) and the Growing Deadly Families Strategy.

It is recommended the Framework is read in conjunction with the Rural Maternity Taskforce Report (PDF, 3.2 MB), as it provides information on the factors that affect access to and safety of maternity services, and an overview of the issues, concerns, and expectations of stakeholders in rural and remote communities.

The Framework contains a suite of resources including a Process to prioritise sites for review using the Rural and Remote Maternity Service Planning Framework.

Planning Framework: Appendix 4 – Templates and examples

Steering committee

Stakeholder forums

In June 2019 the Honourable Steven Miles, the then Deputy Premier, Minister for Health and Minster for Ambulance Services, (Minister), announced that all Hospital and Health Services (HHSs) are required to have Ministerial approval for any planned service changes to rural maternity services.

A process has been developed that clarifies what is required to seek Ministerial approval for changes to maternity services. It describes the criteria for notification and the sites within scope. This process is an extension of the Public Hospitals Clinical Services Capability Framework notification process as described on the CSCF website.

The scope of this process includes all birthing services as any significant or long-term change to a maternity service, at any level, in any location across Queensland can have a considerable impact on other maternity services and the consumers who use them, within the HHS and across the wider Queensland area.

Resources:

Planning Framework: Appendix 4 – Templates and examples

Steering committee

Stakeholder forums

Contact us

Email: Rural-Maternity@health.qld.gov.au

Last updated: 21 March 2022