The Victorian perinatal services performance indicators report aims to improve outcomes for Victorian women and their newborns by reporting of benchmarking data.
The report data spans the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal periods so health services can compare results and monitor variation against their peers.
The 2019–20 report shows:
- fewer healthy babies required additional care after birth in public hospitals
- more babies were delivered before 40 weeks who had not grown as expected (severe fetal growth restriction)
- more pregnant women were vaccinated for influenza.
However, the report also shows there is room for further improvement to:
- address increasing rates of first-time mothers being induced or having a caesarean section
- ensure women feel they receive consistent advice from midwives and other professionals about feeding their baby.
SCV is working directly with services to understand their results and help improve outcomes for women and their babies.