A midwifery immersion program hosted at Brisbane’s Mater Mothers’ Hospital in partnership with Queensland Health is improving care for mums and babies in Queensland’s regional and remote communities.
The Midwifery Strength with Immersion Model (SwIM) program has seen 38 midwives from rural, regional and remote Queensland Health hospitals gain experience and refresh their skills through temporary placements at Mater, which runs one of Australia’s busiest maternity service.
The program is celebrating its first birthday this month and its current SwIM participant is Bernadette Vasiliadis, a midwifery educator at Biloela Hospital – which is preparing for the return of maternity services next year after a three-year birthing bypass.
The Queensland Government is currently investing in new buildings and staff to support the return of birthing to Biloela and Mrs Vasiliadis says she is looking forward to supporting the Biloela Midwifery Group Practice midwives and Maternity Services team as they prepare to begin birthing babies again at the Central Queensland hospital.
“Coming down to Mater Mothers’ has been a fantastic experience,” she said.
“I’ve been able to refresh my knowledge and midwifery currency of practice, which I will share with my colleagues.
“I hadn’t supported a woman birthing a baby since 2023, but I’ve been involved in several births at Mater already – it’s been inspiring and it’s reinvigorated my love of midwifery.”
Queensland’s Chief Midwife Officer Liz Wilkes visited Mater Mothers’ Hospital to mark the first anniversary of the Midwifery SWiM program and to announce the launch of NeoSWiM – a partner program that will support regional and remote midwives and nurses to improve their knowledge, skill and experience of neonatal care through placements at Mater’s Neonatal Critical Care Unit.
“The SWiM program is one of the things that I’m most proud of achieving as Chief Midwife Officer,” Ms Wilkes said.
“Bringing regional and remote midwives to Mater enables them to gain confidence and build capacity in a range of different skills. It’s an amazing program.”
Mater midwife and SwIM Program Coordinator Penny Musumeci said midwives from as far north as Moa Island and as far south as St George had benefited from the program, with 22 more set to work at Mater in the coming months.
“The response from everyone who has come to Mater has been incredible,” Ms Musumeci said.
“The participants in the program all leave with different insights and learnings that they can take back to their home hospitals.
“We have up to 10,000 births a year here, including many complex cases, so rural and regional midwives are able to quickly gain experience and confidence that it would take years to gain in less busy hospitals.
“It’s all about keeping women and their babies as close to their communities as possible.”
Mater Mother’s Hospital General Manager Kerri Gane said the program was a great example of collaboration between Mater and Queensland Health.
“We’re focused on helping our midwifery and nursing colleagues across Queensland provide even better care for rural, regional and remote women,” she said.
“We are united by one goal – ensuring every woman and baby gets the best possible care.”
