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Parliament to investigate postpartum health
A new Senate Committee will highlight lived experiences during the crucial life-stage, as the RACGP calls for bolstered family supports.
The RACGP has been calling for a dedicated MBS-funded GP-led postpartum care plan.
A newly formed Senate Committee has been greeted as an opportunity to reimagine care, with women’s experiences of postpartum health set to be brought into the spotlight.
Formed this week after a motion by South Australian Labor Senator Marielle Smith, the Senate Select Committee on Women’s Health will focus on issues such as fertility, postpartum health care and women’s pain.
She described it as a ‘deeply personal’ issue for her, sharing her experience with mastitis and postnatal anxiety.
‘There is no greater joy or sense of achievement than holding your precious, new baby in your arms,’ Senator Smith said.
‘But the truth is that, alongside these feelings, the days and weeks after birth can be particularly tough, especially for new mothers.
‘Whether it is challenges with breastfeeding, pelvic floor, mental health or the physical experience of birth, women can find themselves suffering deeply.
‘Too many women find themselves isolated, vulnerable and unable to reach out for help. I know this because I have lived some of these struggles.’
Senator Smith said she hopes the move will help ‘break down the stigma that stops women reaching out in this critical period of their lives’.
The new committee will investigate:
- best practice approaches to postpartum healthcare, including support delivery for mothers and their partners
- women’s experiences in the postpartum period, including the physical, psychological, emotional and economic impacts of birth
- antenatal and postpartum reproductive health support
- women’s experience in seeking appropriate healthcare responses to pain, including experiences of medical misogyny.
RACGP Acting Vice-President Dr Cathryn Hester, who met with Senator Smith in Canberra on the day committee was approved, welcomed the move.
‘It’s going to be a very valuable review of our current situation with women’s health and particularly with antenatal and postnatal care,’ she told
newsGP.
‘It’s a crucial time, those first 1000 days for infants and children, and so important to set people up for a healthy life ahead.’
RACGP Acting Vice-President Dr Cathryn Hester in Parliament on Wednesday with South Australian Labor Senator Marielle Smith.
She believes many GPs are concerned about varying levels of care.
‘We’re currently in a situation where your access to care in that postpartum period sadly can be contingent on cost, on location and also on health literacy,’ she said.
‘One of the priorities … is to look at ways that we can reduce the variability in care so that vulnerable patients in particular are assured really good access to continuity of care in that period.’
The RACGP is calling for a dedicated MBS-funded GP-led postpartum care plan, as well as for the establishment of a National Breastfeeding Advisory Council, to boost care for families in the first year after birth.
It is also urging state and territory governments to digitise the Pregnancy Health Record and Baby Book.
‘It would be really refreshing to see a renewed focus on the excellent care that GPs provide for patients in this situation,’ Dr Hester said.
‘The GP is often the first point of call but also the ongoing point of contact for these family members, and GPs have a really unrivalled opportunity to help support families.’
Dr Kavita Thanakrishnan, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine, said the committee is a chance to enhance support for women during a crucial life-stage.
‘Australia’s maternity system delivers high-quality care during pregnancy and birth, but too many women experience a cliff edge in support once they return home with a new baby,’ she said.
‘This inquiry is an opportunity to reimagine how we support women and birthing parents through truly coordinated, holistic, mother-and-infant-centred care – care that doesn’t stop after birth.
‘The first three months alone involve the complex, evolving medical needs of two human beings, yet our system too often treats this as an afterthought. We can and must do better.
‘We know that early intervention and continuity of care can improve outcomes for mothers and babies, reduce avoidable hospital presentations and support mothers and parents to meet their own goals.’
The Select Committee will be chaired by Senator Smith.
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