Fears put midwives in demand

SOME pregnant women fear giving birth in hospital could put them at a greater risk of contracting coronavirus and are turning to community midwives instead.

But the level of demand cannot be met if health services continue running as they do now, the Australian College of Midwives believes.

Meanwhile the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists stresses hospitals and birthing units remain the safest place to give birth.

ACM midwifery adviser Ruth King says private midwives are in hot demand.

“There has been a huge surge in women trying to access midwives who provide community-based services, so that’s the private midwives,” she said yesterday.

“I’ve heard of one midwife who had to turn away 20 women.”

Ms King said hospitals have been taking sensible measures to reduce the risk to pregnant women.

The demand for midwives outside of hospitals can’t be met under the models health services currently use, she said.

But capacity could be boosted if hospitals redeployed some midwives into community roles and others who are no longer practising re-entered the workforce. It would also help if a model known as Midwifery Group Practice, where women receive one-on-one care from a midwife from pregnancy to postnatal needs, was used more widely, she said.

RANZCOG college president Dr Vijay Roach said the safest place to give birth was in a hospital, or birthing unit.