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Home birth in Sydney

The first publicly funded home birth service in Sydney has just been announced by the NSW Minister for Health and the staff at St George Hospital. This is a major breakthrough - for the first time, women in Sydney who want a home birth will have access to a free domiciliary midwifery care as part of our public health system.

The service will operate initially through St George Hospital, where the caseload carrying midwives who are now attached to their Birth Centre will be able to extend their care to assist women give birth at home. As employees of the Hospital, their professional indemnity insurance is covered - the lack of insurance for independently practising midwives has been the major sticking point so far in being able to offer greater access to home birth as an option for families.

The Hospital suggests that up to 11 home births per month could be handled by their midwives. It will be interesting to see how the service is taken up and how popular it becomes. There is also the possibility of extending the geographical range of the service to take in both The Royal Hospital for Women at Randwick and also Sutherland Hospital - all are in the same Area Health Service.

The availability of this new service is timely and necessary. Births in hospitals are always at risk of becoming medicalised, and although there will be very strict criteria for acceptance into this new program, at least the option of avoiding the hospital setting for birth altogether will be a reality for women in Sydney’s south-eastern suburbs. No doubt there will be many people watching this new development with interest, and I feel sure they will be surprised and heartened by the outcomes it should produce. I hope it enjoys every success and proves a model program that is eagerly adopted by other Area Health Services.

Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard, and for so long, to get this service in place. History has been made.....

Posted by andrea at March 06, 2005 08:14 AM