Overview of Four Models of Maternity Care in Australia

Running head: ESSAY IN MIDWIFERY
ESSAY IN MIDWIFERY
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ESSAY IN MIDWIFERY
The options available to women for maternal and neonatal care have undergone
significant development in recent times whereby it includes the provision of new midwifery
centric care models. However this diversification has resulted to a need for shared terminology in
demonstrating as well as drawing comparisons of these models along with the significant
consequences for women and their newborns (Biro 2011). As a result the maternity care
classification system (MaaCCS) has been formulated in order to classify evaluate records as well
as report the data related to maternity model plans of care in Australia. It is important to note that
terminology associated with model of care is often employed in the domain of healthcare system
particularly in association to maternity care. However the model of care comprises both tangible
entities such as accountabilities, role, and structure, methodologies along with factors related to
ideologies, cultures and values. The national maternity services plan as for the taken into
consideration do well established set of recommendations of the maternity services evaluation
and other reviews along with initiatives and further provides a strategic framework for adding the
advancement of such policies and programmes development for the Australian Maternity
services. The services associated to Maternity Care Services Review have been defined as
maternity services as being fundamentally associated within one of four significant models of
care namely Private Maternity Care, Combined Maternity Care, Team Midwifery Care and
Shared Maternity Care (Maternity Services Review 2018). Furthermore, it has been recognized
that several additional degrees in the way in which maternity models of care have been
configured based on both private and public sector, along with the degree of risk associated with
the pregnant women (low risk, elevated risk or diverse), the caregiver (midwife, medical experts,
indigenous health experts) along with the way care is organized as well as the way women
advance through the model starting from the entry level to exit level. The essay explicitly

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ESSAY IN MIDWIFERY
evaluates the overview of four models of care for women available in Australia by providing a
detailed understanding of these models in relation to the principles of maternal and neonatal care.
Maternity services in Australia are regarded as the third most general specialized service
provided by hospitals responsible for taking care of over one million patient days in a year. The
provision of improved quality maternal as well as newborn care is recognized as a significant
global purpose as being articulated by the United Nations (Wernham et al. 2016). However much
of the provisions have incidence in Australia as well as at international level over the past decade
in the condition of both maternal and child wellbeing care services along with specifically
concerning the models of maternity care. Major models of maternity care can further be provided
in the domain of private and public sectors led by obstetricians, general practitioners along with
midwives. However, in Australia, the services related to Maternity Care Services Review has
been defined as maternity services as being fundamentally associated within one of four
significant models of care namely Private Maternity Care, Combined Maternity Care, Team
Midwifery Care and shared maternity care (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018).
The role and responsibilities of midwives are perceived to be immensely significant in the
domain of public health whereby the midwifery carers have been regarded as public health
practitioners although there has been less possibility of them to be acknowledged in this
perspective. However few observations on this area have revealed certain critical forms of
hindrances to the path of identifying the sincere contribution of midwifery led care in the domain
of public health sphere however those have been eventually been surpassed by the sector
(Maternity Services Review 2018). The significant degree of contextualizing the practice of
midwifery led care within the primary health care has also been highlighted in the Australian,
Nursing and Midwifery Council National Competency Standards for the Midwife which further

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ESSAY IN MIDWIFERY
reinforces the practices of perceiving itself as an important factor of a public health strategy.
Furthermore, midwifery led care has been regarded as a practice compelled to enhance the health
and welfare of society. The provisions led by midwife led care to the sphere of public health
interventions employed on regular basis along with the immense contribution towards both
maternal and infant health must be kept out of consideration (Wernham et al. 2016).
Furthermore, evidence based directives related to the provisions of pregnancy have
acknowledged by health prcatitioners to implement an effective health-promotion advancement
in providing care to expecting women which if been provided in efficient manner would aid to
the maternal as well as infant health conditions. Studies indicate that expansively adopted
smoking termination agenda have effectively contributed to the diminution in reduced birth
weight and pre-term birth (Maternity Services Review 2018). Furthermore, promoting the
implication of public health practices of prenatal initiatives facilitate midwifery-led care
practices and responsibilities with an enhanced perspective and can further challenge the public
health sector to take in consideration the broader range of implications of both constructive and
unconstructive role of mass screening of programs (Sakala and Newburn 2014). Several other
public health initiatives indicate that midwives have integrated involvement in the postnatal
period which incorporates immunisation as well as neonatal evaluation. Furthermore the reports
revealed by Victorian Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity
reveal the rate of perinatal morbidity as well as mortality on birth defects whereby the reports
revealed by these publications have stated the importance of public health surveillance articles
which is highly reliable on the level of practices offered by midwives (Midwives.org.au 2018).
However the rate of involvement of midwives to birth outcome and neonatal care provides