Margaret River Hospital celebrates Midwifery Group Program’s second birthday with praise

A Margaret River woman has praised midwife-led maternity services at the hospital after welcoming her second child into the world in February.

Kylie Windle said the great experience of having the birth of her first child led by midwives encouraged her to take part in the hospital’s Midwifery Group Practice program, which celebrated its second year in town earlier this year.

“It was really important to me,” Ms Windle said.

“My first birth was midwife-led and it was a great experience, so I knew that was the direction I wanted to go in this time as well.”

She and husband Scott Humphrys recently welcomed baby Jordy, a baby brother to two-year-old Asher.

The MGP is one of eight award-winning services in regional WA in which midwives provide continuity of care for low-risk cases before, during and after birth.

The practice also provides postnatal obstetric care for women with complicated pregnancies.

Ms Windle praised clinical midwives Karen Ireland and Melony Halsall, as well as the rest of the MGP team.

“I think it’s crucial to have a service like this that allows women to birth locally,” she said.

“The midwives are so experienced and they’re all so lovely — I felt like I was in very safe hands.”

WACHS co-ordinator of midwifery Kate Reynolds said the service was proving popular with South West families.

“We know that continuity of midwifery care has such a fantastic, positive effect on maternity outcomes and has huge benefit for mums, babies, and the whole family,” Ms Reynolds said.

“The MGP model is an internationally recognised, evidence-based initiative that provides quality and sustainable midwifery-led multidisciplinary care, and we’re very proud of the work we’re doing to support rural and remote mums in this space.”

Midwife-led care had been shown to help with increased parental satisfaction, lower postnatal depression rates, increased breastfeeding rates, and shorter lengths of stay in hospital, she said.