Mums celebrate caring midwives

IT was the International Day of the Midwife recently, and Goondiwindi mothers were quick to sing the praises of the Goondiwindi Midwifery Group.

The practice, in its third year of operation, has proved to be a success story. So much so that similar groups will be developed throughout the Darling Downs.

The Goondiwindi Midwifery Group Practice was the first of its kind on the Downs and offers a continuity of care model of service.

This model ensures women receive their pregnancy, birth and post-natal care from a known midwife.

And now that the government has committed to providing Australian women with medicare rebates for private midwifery care, more birth choices are accessible and available.

Former Goondiwindi resident, Alecia Sutton had her first baby using the Goondiwindi model.

“It is great to have a one on one relationship with your midwife, you know that she is just a phone call away and you develop the confidence to have the birth you want.

“The benefits of such services include a feeling of empowerment from the confidence developed with a one to one relationship, a heightened knowledge of mothers on pregnancy and birth, and less medical intervention during birth. “These combining factors contribute to a better start for mothers and their babies,” she said.

An upcoming community meeting with Maternity Coalition Queensland and The Australian College of Midwives Queensland will inform local women of the birthing choices available.

If you would like more information about this meeting please phone Ildiko Keogh on 0419 756 240, Alecia Sutton 0401033348 or Meghan Keleher on 0439 184 837.

Consumer Representation Survey and Training

Hi Everyone

As you might already be aware, the Queensland Centre for Mothers and Babies is working in partnership with MC Qld and Health Consumers Queensland to develop and evaluate a pilot consumer rep training program. For those in Queensland, QCMB's april newsletter is attached here with information about how to get involved in the project. We are particularly excited by the project because, uniquely, it is being developed by consumers, for consumers. (Jo Smethurst, Ali Gaffney and I are working on it, with QCMB.)

One of the things the project needs now is advice for experienced maternity consumer representatives (from all over, now just those in Qld) about the training needs of beginning consumer reps. To this end, we have created a brief survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJVDQWV If you are an experienced consumer rep, we would be really grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete the survey. The first workshop is due to be delivered on June 30, so we really need your input ASAP, but certainly no later than June 1.

It would also be great if you could forward this request throughout your networks so that we can get feedback from as many experienced consumer reps as possible.

We will keep you posted about the progress of the project!

Cheers,

Bec.

Bec Jenkinson

Maternity Coalition

Queensland Branch President

qldpresident@maternitycoalition.org.au

(h) 07 3351 4834

(m) 0439 765 633

Maternity Consumer Representative Training Program

The Queensland Centre for Mothers and Babies has partnered with Health Consumers QLD and Maternity Coalition to develop, implement and evaluate a pilot training program specifically for consumer representatives of maternity services.

This pilot training program aims to support consumers to be actively involved in policy, service planning and evaluation decision-making about maternity services in Queensland. The pilot will target areas with maternity facilities planning significant maternity model of care changes.

If you’ve ever been pregnant and have an interest in improving your local pregnancy, birth and post-natal care options then you can be a part of this training program. It’s not essential, but you might also identify with one of the following characteristics:
• are currently active in a maternity consumer organisation
• have an interest in policy, planning, service delivery and evaluation of maternity services
• live in an area where your local maternity facility is planning significant changes to the way in which women receive care (model of care changes) and are interested in maternity issues – or you may want your local facility to plan some significant changes!

Training participants will not need any specific skills or qualifications. Efforts are being made to ensure a broad demographic of consumers will participate in the training.

The first training workshop is planned to take place in Brisbane on Thursday, June 30, 2011 with another workshop planned for early 2012. We’ll give participants the assistance they need to attend the workshop. Workshop participants will receive on-going support through:
• on-line resources
• networking with other consumer representatives across the state
• mentored by consumer consultants and/or other experienced consumer representatives.

How you can help
We would also like you all to spread the word about this project in the following ways:

For consumers:
Let fellow consumers and consumer groups know that they can access this training.
Register your interest in participating in this training. Call 07 3346 3069 or email consumerconsultantali@gmail.com

If you’re an experienced consumer representative and would like to support and mentor another person, please call or email us on the contact details above.

For maternity workers:
Keep an eye out for consumers who might be interested in consumer representation and this training program.

Contact Health Consumers QLD for advice and support to facilitate a positive relationship with your consumer representatives. Ph: 1800 613 251 or 32340611

For more information contact:
Queensland Centre for Mothers and Babies
Ali Gaffney, Bec Jenkinson or Joanne Smethurst
Ph: 07 3346 3069