New mums getting access to post-natal care

All new mums in Queensland are to receive follow up care from midwives by 2012.

More new mums in Queensland are getting help at home with post-natal care, thanks to a state government initiative.

Health Minister Geoff Wilson used Mothers' Day to reveal that the government is on track to deliver on its promise, made in 2008, that all new mums would receive follow up care from midwives by 2012.

Wilson said more than 11,400 new mums had received a midwife visit in the past six months.
"In the six months to January this year, 64 per cent of the 17,500 mums who gave birth in a Queensland public hospital were visited at home by a midwife, he said in a statement."

Wilson said the government wanted to make sure that mums did not have to travel to get help on top of all the other challenges they were facing.

"Achieving that in a decentralised state like Queensland is often a challenge that requires innovation, commitment and creative thinking," he said.

"But no matter whether a mum lives in suburban Brisbane or the Torres Strait, that early contact from a midwife is vital."

Wilson said the midwives are able to give advice on breast feeding, settling techniques, and immunisation, along with a wide variety of other topics news mums have questions about.

He said the government is also providing a range of other maternity services closer to home, including Newborn and Family Drop-In services in 18 communities.
AAP

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