Frequently asked questions

The midwifery workforce is the largest contributor to the Australian maternity workforce. Maintaining the numbers, diversity, and quality of the Australian midwifery workforce is key to the ongoing provision of safe and effective maternity care.

Public safety is the paramount principle driving everything we do. That not only means making sure that midwives have the right capabilities for their role, but ensuring there are the right numbers of midwives to meet demand.

Midwifery Futures is the Board’s investment to ensure there is a strong case for change to grow the midwifery workforce, support greater workforce flexibility and improve the available data to optimise midwifery workforce planning.

The project was composed of distinct stages:

1. Workforce analysis: to understand the current workforce and develop predictions regarding future workforce needs, routinely collected data from Commonwealth and state health departments was gathered and analysed.
2. Scoping reviews of existing research, reports and other data focussed on what Australian maternity consumers need and want from midwifery services, and how midwives are delivering them.
3. Online surveys of the midwifery workforce. These are included:
   a. Midwifery students (entry-to-practice programs)
   b. Midwifery educators based in academic institutions
   c. Midwifery workforce (midwives working in practice, public and private sectors)
4. Focus groups and interviews with key stakeholdersand current midwifery students, endorsed midwives, or midwives providing midwifery continuity of care services.
5. Case studies to provide examples of innovative and successful approaches to the provision of midwifery services and education.
6. National symposium in March 2024, bringing key stakeholders together to develop a collaborative and strategic approach to the midwifery workforce for the future.

Project lead: Professor Caroline Homer AO, Burnet Institute

Project team:

• Professor Joanne Gray, University of Technology Sydney
• Professor Kathleen Baird, University of Technology Sydney
• Professor Jennifer Fenwick, University of Technology Sydney
• Dr Zoe Bradfield, Curtin University
• Melanie Robinson, Aboriginal Health, Child and Adolescent Health Service Western Australia

Research officers:

• Dr Kirsten Small, Burnet Institute
• Chanelle Warton, Burnet Institute

Project governance included an Expert Advisory Group featuring members from:

• NMBA
• Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers
• Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers of Australia and New Zealand
• Australian College of Midwives
• Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
• Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives
• Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery
• Notification Committee
• Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council Accreditation Council.

A Working Advisory Group was also established to review outputs from the project in addition to two further key advisory groups, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Yarning Circle and the Consumer and Lived Experience Expert Panel.

Thousands of midwives and midwifery students also completed surveys and gave their time to inform the report.

The Midwifery Futures Report provides the evidence base for future workforce strategy and planning.

Collaboration between Commonwealth and the states and territories in Australia in partnership with all stakeholders. Health Ministers and governments across the country will be key to deliver on these recommendations and ensure a strong future midwifery workforce.