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Women at low risk of pregnancy complications benefit from continuity of midwifery care, but no trial evidence exists for women with identified risk factors. We aimed to assess the clinical and cost outcomes of caseload midwifery care for women irrespective of risk factors. In this unblinded, randomised, controlled, parallel-group trial, pregnant women at two metropolitan teaching hospitals in Australia were randomly assigned to either caseload midwifery care or standard maternity care by a telephone-based computer randomisation service. Women aged 18 years and older were eligible if they were less than 24 weeks pregnant at the first booking visit. Those who booked with another care provider, had a multiple pregnancy, or planned to have an elective caesarean section were excluded. Women allocated to caseload care received antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care from a named caseload midwife (or back-up caseload midwife). Controls received standard care with rostered midwives in discrete wards or clinics. The participant and the clinician were not masked to assignment. The main primary outcome was the proportion of women who had a caesarean section. The other primary maternal outcomes were the proportions who had an instrumental or unassisted vaginal birth, and the proportion who had epidural analgesia during labour. Primary neonatal outcomes were Apgar scores, preterm birth, and admission to neonatal intensive care. We analysed all outcomes by intention to treat. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number ACTRN12609000349246. Publicly insured women were screened at the participating hospitals between Dec 8, 2008, and May 31, 2011. 1748 pregnant women were randomly assigned, 871 to caseload and 877 to standard care. The proportion of caesarean sections did not differ between the groups (183 [21%] in the caseload group vs 204 [23%] in the standard care group; odds ratio [OR] 0·88, 95% CI 0·70–1·10; p=0·26). The proportion of women who had elective caesarean sections (before onset of labour) differed significantly between caseload and standard care (69 [8%] vs 94 [11%]; OR 0·72, 95% CI 0·52–0·99; p=0·05). Proportions of instrumental birth were similar (172 [20%] vs 171 [19%]; p=0·90), as were the proportions of unassisted vaginal births (487 [56%] vs 454 [52%]; p=0·08) and epidural use (314 [36%] vs 304 [35%]; p=0·54). Neonatal outcomes did not differ between the groups. Total cost of care per woman was AUS$566·74 (95% 106·17–1027·30; p=0·02) less for caseload midwifery than for standard maternity care. Our results show that for women of any risk, caseload midwifery is safe and cost effective. National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia).

Background Australia has an enviable record of safety for women in childbirth. There is nevertheless growing concern at the increasing level of intervention and consequent morbidity amongst childbearing women. Not only do interventions impact on the cost of services, they carry with them the potential for serious morbidities for mother and infant. Models of midwifery have proliferated in an attempt to offer women less fragmented hospital care. One of these models that is gaining widespread consumer, disciplinary and political support is caseload midwifery care. Caseload midwives manage the care of approximately 35-40 a year within a small Midwifery Group Practice (usually 4-6 midwives who plan their on call and leave within the Group Practice.) We propose to compare the outcomes and costs of caseload midwifery care compared to standard or routine hospital care through a randomised controlled trial. Methods/design A two-arm RCT design will be used. Women will be recruited from tertiary women's hospitals in Sydney and Brisbane, Australia. Women allocated to the caseload intervention will receive care from a named caseload midwife within a Midwifery Group Practice. Control women will be allocated to standard or routine hospital care. Women allocated to standard care will receive their care from hospital rostered midwives, public hospital obstetric care and community based general medical practitioner care. All midwives will collaborate with obstetricians and other health professionals as necessary according to the woman's needs. Discussion Data will be collected at recruitment, 36 weeks antenatally, six weeks and six months postpartum by web based or postal survey. With 750 women or more in each of the intervention and control arms the study is powered (based on 80% power; alpha 0.05) to detect a difference in caesarean section rates of 29.4 to 22.9%; instrumental birth rates from 11.0% to 6.8%; and rates of admission to neonatal intensive care of all neonates from 9.9% to 5.8% (requires 721 in each arm). The study is not powered to detect infant or maternal mortality, however all deaths will be reported. Other significant findings will be reported, including a comprehensive process and economic evaluation. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12609000349246

The current Australian national maternity reform agenda focuses on improving access to maternity care for women and their families while preserving safety and quality. The caseload midwifery model of care offers the level of access to continuity of care proposed in the reforms however the introduction of these models in Australia continues to meet with strong resistance. In many places access to caseload midwifery care is offered as a token, usually restricted to well women, within limited metropolitan and regional facilities and where available, places for women are very small as a proportion of the total service provided. This case study outlines a major clinical redesign of midwifery care at a metropolitan tertiary referral maternity hospital in Sydney. Caseload midwifery care was introduced under randomised trial conditions to provide midwifery care to 1500 women of all risk resulting in half of the publicly insured women receiving midwifery group practice care. The paper describes the organisational quality and safety tools that were utilised to facilitate the process while discussing the factors that facilitated the process and the barriers that were encountered within the workforce, operational and political context.

Toddlers thrive outdoors. They’ve just learned to walk and the outdoors for them is filled with new things to discover every day. Their curiosity about the world around them is endless. From the tiniest stone or the smallest hole to the excitement of a hill or the force of the wind, toddlers need the variety and stimulation that’s found outdoors. Outdoors they are enthusiastic learners, constantly investigating and experimenting with their world. In this film we follow six children as they explore their outdoor world as we closely observe what things interest them most and why. We explore how the outdoors perfectly supports their physical, emotional, social and cognitive development. Throughout each of the toddlers adventure we examine the importance for a ‘safe base’ from which the young can explore secure in the thought that a trusted adult is always close by to offer reassurance and support. Made in collaboration with with Jan White an early years outdoors specialist, we present all current research and theories on outdoor play in a straightforward, easy to understand way. The comprehensive accompanying notes, written by Jan White, help link the developmental theory with practice, expanding on information given in the film and include lots of prompts for developing practice.

Responds to the related editorial, in which the authors consider two intertwined arrangements which stem from the post-1938 compromise between the government and the medical profession, which created institutional arrangements for the NZ health system, that the Ministerial review of the health system which commenced in 2018 will need to address if goals of equity and the original intent of the 1938 Social Security Act, which created the NZ national health service, are to be delivered upon : general practice patient charges; and ownership models. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Background In many countries midwives act as the main providers of care for women throughout pregnancy, labour and birth. In our large public teaching hospital in Australia we restructured the way midwifery care is offered and introduced caseload midwifery for one third of women booked at the hospital. We then compared the costs and birth outcomes associated with caseload midwifery compared to the two existing models of care, standard hospital care and private obstetric care. Methods We undertook a cross sectional study examining the risk profile, birth outcomes and cost of care for women booked into one of the three available models of care in a tertiary teaching hospital in Australia between July 1st 2009 December 31st 2010. To control for differences in population or case mix we described the outcomes for a cohort of low risk first time mothers known as the 'standard primipara'. Results Amongst the 1,379 women defined as 'standard primipara' there were significant differences in birth outcome. These first time ‘low risk’ mothers who received caseload care were more likely to have a spontaneous onset of labour and an unassisted vaginal birth 58.5% in MGP compared to 48.2% for Standard hospital care and 30.8% with Private obstetric care (p < 0.001). They were also significantly less likely to have an elective caesarean section 1.6% with MGP versus 5.3% with Standard care and 17.2% with private obstetric care (p < 0.001). From the public hospital perspective, over one financial year the average cost of care for the standard primipara in MGP was $3903.78 per woman. This was $1375.45 less per woman than those receiving Private obstetric care and $1590.91 less than Standard hospital care per woman (p < 0.001). Similar differences in cost were found in favour of MGP for all women in the study who received caseload care. Conclusions Cost reduction appears to be achieved through reorganising the way care is delivered in the public hospital system with the introduction of Midwifery Group Practice or caseload care. The study also highlights the unexplained clinical variation that exists between the three models of care in Australia.

Scientific understanding of climate change has, to date, failed to result in sufficient action. This paper proposes that a deficit model of top‐down learning and dissemination in relation to public engagement with science may be part of the problem, particularly when considering the attitudes, values and empowerment of children and young people. Drawing on two cross‐university projects funded by the Future of UK Treescapes programme, in which children and young people took the lead in developing ideas about future treescapes, we interrogate assumptions and practices underpinning why and how scientists engage children and young people. Whilst there is widespread recognition that children and young people have a fundamental role to play in climate change responses, there is no clear framework that codifies best practice in enabling this. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, drawing together scientists with social scientists and humanities researchers with expertise on researching with children, our research provides a critical lens in relation to what ‘research’ with children could or should look like. We present examples from our empirical work with a range of children and young people of different ages to highlight the contribution of ethnographic, situated, arts‐based and practice‐based approaches for disrupting power imbalances and enabling researchers to ‘listen’ to children in a different way. This expansive reconceptualisation of ‘listening’ involves sound, movement, relations and the more‐than‐human. Too much work on climate change communication engagement remains situated within disciplinary silos. This paper advocates for a transdisciplinary approach suitable for responding more effectively to challenges of climate change and making space for children's voice in relation to this. We offer six guiding principles to inform best practice in gathering and embedding authentic voices of children and young people in development and consultation for environmental policymaking, planning and implementation purposes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Antibiotic overprescription is a key driver of antimicrobial resistance, and rates of community dispensing of antibiotics in New Zealand are high compared to other developed countries. We aimed to test whether a social-norm-based intervention successful elsewhere would have an effect on GPs with high prescribing rates of antibiotics. We also aimed to assess the effects on prescribing for Māori and Pacific patients. A randomised controlled trial (n=1,214) tested the effects of a letter mailed to high-prescribing GPs that presented their prescribing data in comparison to their peers. In September-December 2019, after the letters were mailed, the antibiotic prescribing rate in the control arm was 178.8 patients prescribed antibiotics per 1,000 patients prescribed any medicine, and in the intervention arm it was 162.3, a relative difference of 9.2% (p<0.001). GPs in the intervention arm were responsible for an average of 173.5 prescriptions, versus an average of 186.8 prescriptions for GPs in the control arm, a relative difference of 13.3 or 7.1% (p<0.01). Exploratory analyses showed the intervention reduced prescribing to Māori and Pacific patients among historically high prescribing GPs but had no statistically significant impact on low prescribers. A targeted intervention using social norms reduced prescribing of antibiotics by high-prescribing GPs. Such an approach may be promising to address inequities in access to and use of antibiotics by Māori and Pacific peoples, historically underserved by prescribers, but further investigation is needed.