In Victoria, postpartum haemorrhage (or PPH) caused 37 per cent of all severe acute maternal morbidity reported in 2019. Research suggests it is often avoidable.

There is increasing evidence of the psychological effects of PPH including impacts on breastfeeding, bonding, and contact time between the parents and baby. Health professionals can also be impacted by a fear of managing future PPH cases.

From April 2022 to December 2023, Safer Care Victoria (SCV) partnered with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and Victorian Health Services with the aim of reducing the incidence of severe PPH (greater than 1500ml) following vaginal birth by 50 per cent. The PPH Collaborative also aimed to reduce harm to people giving birth, their partners and to health professionals, by standardising and improving the response to PPH across participating health services. 

Despite the ambitious goal, achieving a 50% reduction in severe PPH proved challenging due to baseline instability. This instability was largely attributed to the widespread implementation of Quantified Blood loss (QBL) measurement as a change initiative within the Collaborative.  Nevertheless, the PPH Collaborative significantly transformed the identification and management of PPH within participating health services and elevated the voice of Victorian consumers, resulting in notable improvements in obstetric safety. 

For more information, see the comprehensive evaluation of the PPH Collaborative.

SCV remains committed to supporting Victorian health services to continue to strive to reduce the incidence of PPH and improve the care of those experiencing PPH. To support this work SCV has developed additional resources which are available within the Resource tab on our website below.  Within the Resource tab you will find a PPH Improvement Toolkit, PPH Collaborative Operational Definitions and our audit tool, designed to assist data capture and reporting in those services without access to a dashboard.