Continuity of care in rural SA project - sharing the journey

In 2017, I was fortunate to be tasked to manage a project to look at a sustainable midwifery workforce in country South Australia. Workforce shortages in rural maternity services currently threaten the sustainability of birthing in rural hospitals. From the outset, the project team had an aim of keeping birthing as close to home as possible for women living in our rural communities, where it is safe to do so. It was clear we needed to look at models of care as one component of building a sustainable midwifery workforce, given midwifery led care is well documented as best practice.