Breathing New Life into Maternity Care 2010 Conference

Midwives, Doctors & Consumers Working Together: Learning From Each Other

A national collaborative maternity services conference will be held in Alice Springs , Northern Territory , from Thursday 1 July until Saturday 3 July. The fundamental aim of this conference is to discuss collaboration amongst all the different health professionals engaged in maternity care, and to explore barriers to effective collaborative care, with a view to encouraging midwives, specialist obstetricians and general practitioners to work together to ensure women receive the most appropriate maternity care for them, resulting in the best outcomes.

With a strong inter-professional program, the 3rd Biennial Breathing New Life into Maternity Care Multidisciplinary Conference is expected to attract over 400 health professionals, including midwives, general practitioners, specialist obstetricians, aboriginal health workers, and other health service providers including health service managers and policy makers.

The Australian College of Midwives (ACM) is working in partnership with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG). The theme of this conference is "working together, learning from each other".

The conference will be opened by the Federal Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Service Delivery, the Hon Warren Snowdon on Friday 2 July. National and international keynote speakers from the United Kingdom , the United States of America, The Netherlands, Canada , New Zealand and Quebec , will also be presenting at the three day event.

"This conference is about working together, incorporating evidence into our practice and putting women at the centre of our care. The Australian College of Midwives welcomes the opportunity for midwives, doctors, allied health service providers and consumers to spend time together, listening to each other and discussing ideas,'said Hannah Dahlen, President of the Australian College of Midwives.

'With the Federal Government's maternity care reforms coming towards maturity, and collaborative models of care between obstetricians, GPs and midwives due to commence in November 2010, this conference is timely and should prove invaluable in highlighting the strengths of effective collaboration between different maternity care providers in promoting better maternity care for women and their families, in both metropolitan and rural Australia,' said RANZCOG President, Dr Ted Weaver.

'Having the conference in Alice Springs will also focus attention on Indigenous women and how best to care for them, given their diverse needs, in a health and cultural sense. The conference theme of working together, learning from each other, exemplifies how the future maternity care workplace should look. RANZCOG welcomes the opportunity to discuss these important matters and looks forward to positive outcomes from the conference,' said Dr Weaver.

'Rural and remote Australian communities, due to their diverse size, isolation and their nature, necessarily require health services with close collaboration between midwives, general practitioner obstetricians and anaesthetists, specialist obstetricians and various allied health professionals to deliver safe outcomes for mothers and their babies,' said ACRRM President, Dr Jeff Ayton today.

'Over the next three days, Australian and international maternity service providers will be discussing models of care including rural maternity service teams, that can provide accessible and appropriate care whilst ensuring safe outcomes for rural Australian families.

'Outcomes for Indigenous Australians are a particular focus of this meeting in Central Australia, highlighting that we must all work together to close the gap.

'The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine welcomes this opportunity to work together, discuss, formulate and importantly provide safe maternity and other health care for rural and remote Australians,' said Dr Ayton.

Copy of the Program and details on the conference: http://www.breathingnewlife.remark.com.au/images/program.pdf

Abstracts are available upon request.