ACT moves to establish a public ‘freestanding’ birthing centre
A motion to establish a freestanding birthing centre in Canberra has been passed. Here’s what it means.
Canberra Star
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A motion to open Canberra’s first birthing centre outside of a hospital has passed unanimously in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
Greens MLA Jo Clay put forward the motion after she tabled two petitions pushing for a birth centre to be established in the ACT which amounted to over 3000 signatures.
The motion seeks to build a public birthing centre outside of the hospital environment which provides a homelike environment for women to give birth.
Currently the ACT has two birthing centres located inside Canberra Hospital and Calvary Hospital.
While parents, including petition organiser Abbie McMillian-Maher, have rave reviews of the hospital based birthing centres, they also have concerns about long waiting lists.
The Australian Public Service employee and mother of three has given birth to all of her children, including 10-month old Evelyn, at the birthing centre at The Canberra Hospital.
“I’m passionate about women having a choice in where they want to give birth, how they want to give birth and then in turn having a positive birth experience,” Ms McMillian-Maher said.
“I know lots of people in my mother’s group who were not able to get onto the program.
“And here I am with these phenomenal birth stories, knowing a lot of that would be attributed to being on the program when a lot of women can’t be.”
Ms McMillan-Maher said after hearing about her mother and grandmother requiring emergency Caesareans, she was anxious about giving birth.
Now she wants a less medicalised understanding of birth and pregnancy.
“Birth is a wellness not an illness,” she said.
“You go into hospital when you are ill and birth is a normal physiological process.”
Midwife and petitioner Kai Hodgkin said she believed Covid-19 has led to people to realise hospitals aren’t the best place to be when you aren’t sick because of the risks of infection.
“(During Covid-19) at both hospitals the birth centres had their rooms converted to Covid-19 rooms, which meant we lost those homelike spaces,” she said.
“That still hasn’t entirely returned to normal …(with) a freestanding birth centre means you’re not going to have those same issues.”
Ms McMillian-Maher said working with the same midwife during her pregnancy and birth journeys was crucial advantage to the birth centre program.
This was echoed by Ms Hodgkin who said she preferred individualising care for patients.
“(In a birthing centre environment) when the woman comes in the midwife can have everything set up in the way that suits her,” she said.
“For some people, (they’ll) want a beautiful calming space, and honestly for other people, (they could be) listening to Monty Python soundtracks.
“If you don’t know the person you can’t possibly create the environment that’s going to make them feel comfortable, calm, capable and well supported.”
Ms Hodgkin said giving birth in a birthing centre was “just as safe” for low risk pregnancies as giving birth in a traditional maternity ward.
“The only disadvantage is the risk of transferring across to hospital if needed,” she said.
“For some people that’s enough to deter them, for others it's a fine risk to take.”
Freestanding birthing centres in the public health system have already been established in Townsville and Mackay.
Nurse Mariah Oxenberg gave birth to her three-month-old son George at the Townsville Birth Centre.
“You come into the centre and it’s almost like a bedroom with a bathroom,” she said.
“At our birth centre in Townsville there is medical equipment, but it’s all very much hidden.
“It’s lovely, you feel very safe.
“(Hospitals) are not the nicest places, everything is clinical you don’t feel as relaxed and with giving birth you need to feel relax.”
Ms Oxenberg, who is a First-Nations woman, said birthing centres could provide a culturally safe environment for First Nations parents.
“A lot of First Nations people and Indigenous communities don’t trust hospitals as much,” she said.
“It's not a place people want to go to and they don’t have as much confidence in it.”
Canberra based Indigenous midwife Karel Williams said trauma has caused Indigenous Australians to be distrustful of hospitals.
“Racism is an ongoing problem in our health systems,” she said.
“There’s reluctance from some women to go to hospital to have their babies, knowing they’re going to be judged.”
She said close rapport between patients and midwives could address concerns about prejudice.
“I hope in this model of care the midwives can practice in a culturally safe way,” she said.
“We need the workforce to be culturally competent and to be practising in a culture safe way.”
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