Does Australia's Health Policy Environment Create Unintended Outcomes for Birthing Women?
Author(s)
Steel, Amie
Adams, Jon
Frawley, Jane
Wardle, Jon
Broom, Alex
Sidebotham, Mary
Sibbritt, David
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2016
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Several health policy reforms in Australia over the past20 years have directly and indirectly affected the use ofmaternity care services. Specifically, recent reformshave increased access to obstetric and complementarymedicine services—defined here as a range of healthservices not commonly included in conventional medi-cine practice—irrespective of health status or need.Additionally, a number of recent policy changes pur-ported to increase access to midwifery services havehad the opposite effect of restricting access to theseservices. Existing Australian maternity and health poli-cies may be directing pregnant women toward ...
View more >Several health policy reforms in Australia over the past20 years have directly and indirectly affected the use ofmaternity care services. Specifically, recent reformshave increased access to obstetric and complementarymedicine services—defined here as a range of healthservices not commonly included in conventional medi-cine practice—irrespective of health status or need.Additionally, a number of recent policy changes pur-ported to increase access to midwifery services havehad the opposite effect of restricting access to theseservices. Existing Australian maternity and health poli-cies may be directing pregnant women toward engagingwith care providers and services that are not necessarilysupported by contemporary evidence. In this commen-tary, we explore recent changes in the health policyand legislative environment in Australia, and theirinfluence on changing trends in maternity care.
View less >
View more >Several health policy reforms in Australia over the past20 years have directly and indirectly affected the use ofmaternity care services. Specifically, recent reformshave increased access to obstetric and complementarymedicine services—defined here as a range of healthservices not commonly included in conventional medi-cine practice—irrespective of health status or need.Additionally, a number of recent policy changes pur-ported to increase access to midwifery services havehad the opposite effect of restricting access to theseservices. Existing Australian maternity and health poli-cies may be directing pregnant women toward engagingwith care providers and services that are not necessarilysupported by contemporary evidence. In this commen-tary, we explore recent changes in the health policyand legislative environment in Australia, and theirinfluence on changing trends in maternity care.
View less >
Journal Title
Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care
Volume
43
Issue
4
Subject
Biomedical and clinical sciences
Health policy
Health policy environment
Birthing women
Midwifery services
Care providers