Plans to expand publicly-funded homebirth program in Victoria

The Victorian government is planning to expand a publicly-funded homebirth (PFHB) program to three additional hospitals in the state, including the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.

The expansion of the program, which already runs at the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital at Sunshine Hospital in Melbourne, was confirmed to AAP yesterday by a Victorian government spokesperson.

“It’s so important that women have choice in the care they access,” they told AAP.

In the last year, 97 per cent of births in Australia took place in a hospital while just 0.5 per cent were home births, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

In Australia, there are currently 17 publicly-funded homebirth programs, but Begnell said this is not enough.

Source: Plans to expand publicly-funded homebirth program in Victoria

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.