Page 1181 - Week 03 - Thursday, 18 March 2010
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In May 2006 KPMG (contracted by the Government) published “Canberra Midwifery Program – Demand Analysis Report” arising from one of the recommendations of the Standing Committee’s Report:
“That the (ACT) Government undertake a needs analysis to determine the actual level of unmet demand for the Canberra Midwifery Program as a matter of urgency. Further, the Committee recommends that the Government increase funding to the Canberra Midwifery Program to meet existing demand and following the outcome of the needs analysis appropriately resource the Program to meet demand”.
In February 2007 there was a “Review into the Canberra Midwifery Program for ACT Health”. The Review considered:
• The Canberra Midwifery Program (CMP) homebirth cases for a set period;
• The incidence of unplanned homebirths and whether the ACT numbers are significantly different to other community midwife programs that do not offer home birth;
• The effectiveness of the policies and guidelines for the management of unplanned homebirth within the CMP; and
• The current system of assuring quality outcomes in CMP.
(2) These first three reports are in the public domain. The final Report (the Review into the Canberra Midwifery Program for ACT Health) can be released excluding Sections 9.7, 9.8 and 9.9 and Section 10 plus the respective sections of the Executive Summary and Recommendations. These are Cabinet in confidence.
(3) The three reports contained a number of recommendations some of which the government supported, supported in principle, or did not support.
The majority of the recommendations from the Pregnant Pause report, which the Government supported, have been implemented. These include the implementation of initiatives such as antenatal education for women and midwives, Baby Friendly accreditation, better access to Maternal and Child Health Clinics and of course the Review of the Canberra Midwifery Program.
As a result of the findings of the Canberra Midwifery Program Demand Analysis Report published by KPMG, a number of actions were taken.
A Working Group was established by the Health Minister to consider the views expressed in the report and related issues. The key areas identified for improvement were:
• Improved access to women centred care by a known midwife;
• Continuity of care and carer through antenatal, birth and postnatal care; and
• Access to home like birthing facilities.
In response to the suggestions made by KPMG, operational areas identified a number of immediate steps for reengineering the service system at the time (such as roster changes, better referral pathways for Midcall/Newborn and Parent Support Service, expansion of the Young Mums Program) and many of these were implemented.
The Working Group advised that the whole of service approach (suggested by the Report), be adopted into future planning. As part of its Innovation, Redesign and Access Improvement Program, ACT Health has developed a model of care for women’s services consistent with the principles to guide service provision as suggested by KPMG (Equity of access, continuity of care, targeting those most vulnerable and choice).
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