Meeting the needs of mothers and babies

Maternal services provide care for more than 300,000 women who give birth in Australia each year, but limited and inconsistent approaches are associated with poorer outcomes for women and babies. Though there is considerable evidence about what is needed for quality care, there is significant variation in the application of that evidence.

Distinguished Professor Caroline Homer has been awarded an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship to develop strategies to aid in the implementation of evidence-based practices in maternal and newborn services in Australia.

The fellowship focuses on developing a framework for evidence translation in maternity services that includes a series of exemplars – both of what has worked and what hasn’t - to help explain why and how to get evidence into practice. Professor Homer’s five-year project will focus first on south-western Sydney but will ultimately improve the quality of care offered to women Australia-wide.

“The health system cannot afford to continue on as it is, change is needed urgently. We have the evidence and it needs to be implemented at scale, not just in a piecemeal fashion,” says Professor Homer.