Have We Lost Sight of the Women? An Observational Study About
Normality-Centred Care in Australian Maternity Services.
Abstract
Objective • Prioritising normal birth has led to harm in some instances
in the UK • Australian organisations have also promoted normal birth in
maternity practice • The negative impact of normal birth appears less
well understood in Australia • The study explores this impact of normal
birth promotion and the quality of clinical incident investigations
Design • Survey-based research design Setting • Online survey Population
or Sample • Australian maternity health care providers Methods • Open
and close-ended questions on the survey • The survey received 1278
responses • Data analysed using SPSS software Main Outcome Measures •
Perceptions on bias against or delay in interventions • Perceptions on
systemic attempts to reduce caesarean rates • Perceptions on clinical
incident investigations and the engagement of women in these processes
Results • Promoting normal birth may by introduce bias against or delay
interventions • Attempts to reduce caesarean section rates may reduce
the agency of the woman to choose how she births • Incident
investigations appear to be independent and improve outcomes for mothers
and babies • Women with birth trauma appear to lack support and follow
up postnatally Conclusions • Current regulatory standards for maternity
services may need to be re-evaluated • Key performance indicators for
maternity services need to change to reflect core ethical and legal
obligations around informed consent