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The organisation of maternity services by midwives in rural localities within the South Island of New Zealand

Abstract:

At the time of this study (September 2001) there were twenty-one rural maternity facilities (meaning hospitals or birthing units) in the South Island of New Zealand, located within rural towns. None of these facilities provide for caesarean sections. Sixteen of the facilities were located more than 60 minutes from a secondary or tertiary maternity facility (HFA, 2000). The nine rural facilities scanned for this study accounted for about a third of the primary facility births and 66.9% of rural facility births in the South Island. See Table One for the types of maternity facilities, excluding homebirth, in New Zealand in 1999. The scan was carried out as part of a midwifery doctoral study into the organisation of maternity services in rural localities by midwives.

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primary unit, rural facilities, strategies for strengthening rural services, survival of rural facilities