Women in rural and remote NSW call a stop to maternity unit closures

This paper reports on the findings of a study funded by the Nurses and Midwives Board of NSW, where forty-two women living in rural and remote areas shared their stories of having to move away from their communities to birth. Women told how the real and actual risks of unsafe road travel; separation and isolation from partners, children, families and community support; financial hardship and the negative impact on emotional wellbeing and family cohesion were ignored. While childbirth is undeniably unpredictable in nature, the risks for healthy pregnant women are small and potential rather than actual and even labour and birth at a tertiary referral centre can never remove uncertainty or guarantee a healthy mother and baby. The presentation will argue that it is time to stop maternity unit closures in rural Australia and rethink strategies that will enable healthy pregnant women choices as to whether or not they labour and birth in their own rural communities.