New study finds benefits in midwife-led care

A new study has found that adopting midwives as the main provider of care during pregnancy could actually be more beneficial than traditional doctor centric care.

THE number of babies born by caesarean section and the rate of labour complications could significantly drop if more midwives led pregnancy care, a new study has found.

Deakin University researchers combed international studies to look at the outcomes of midwife-led models compared to traditional doctor-centric care.

The 15 publications found that if midwives were the main carers throughout pregnancy and labour there were fewer unplanned C-sections and surgical deliveries overall, and fewer episiotomies.

Lauren (right) is expecting her second child.

Less than one in four women have access to midwife-led pregnancy care, with services offered at Victorian public hospitals boasting significant waiting lists.

Just 18 per cent of Australian births were via C-section in the early 1990s, but now a little more than a third of all births are performed this way. Almost half of deliveries in private hospitals are caesarean.

Medically necessary surgical births can be life saving for mother and baby.

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But lead researcher Professor Alison Hutchinson, co-director of Deakin’s Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, said given the growing evidence of benefits of vaginal delivery — such as increased bonding, breastfeeding rates and a quicker recovery — it was important women could make evidence-based choices about their care and hospital administrations increased ­access to these services.

“I hope the findings can be taken on board by hospital boards, because change needs to be driven by health services,” Prof Hutchinson said.

Australian College of Midwives president Terri Barrett said despite growing evidence of the benefits of midwife-led care, the rollout of services had been “frustratingly slow”.