For 25 years, the Family Birth Centre, at King Edward Memorial Hospital, has provided Western Australian women with the opportunity to have their children in a home-like setting.
The Centre, the first of its kind when it opened in 1992, was designed for women with low-risk pregnancies, and their families, who prefer to give birth to their babies in a home-like setting with the ability to be transferred to higher level care if required.
The Centre is staffed by 28 midwives, who are on-call 24 hours a day, to care for women during their early pregnancy, birth, and postnatal period.
In recent years, the Centre moved to a Midwifery Group Practice model of care, enabling women to have their chosen midwife with them throughout their pregnancy and postnatal care, which has proven better outcomes and satisfaction from mothers.
A 2016 survey revealed more than 95 per cent of women at the Centre were confident in the care they received, felt supported and listened to and reassured knowing emergency back-up was close at-hand.
Source: Government of Western Australia.