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 2021 report shows:
- Rates of induction of labour or prelabour caesarean section for severe fetal growth restriction in babies before 40 weeks’ gestation have increased.
- Rates of postpartum haemorrhage have reduced.
- Rates of maternal readmission have reduced however rates of neonatal readmission have increased.
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen in the 2021 data, for example with maternal pertussis and influenza vaccination rates being reduced.
SCV is working directly with services to understand their results and help improve outcomes for women and their babies. We will also use the data to further inform improvement and prevention programs, including the following:
- Maternity and Newborn Learning Health Network Improvement Program which is driving the sustained improvements from the previous Safer Baby and Better Births collaboratives
- Postpartum Haemorrhage Collaborative
- National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative
- Maternity and Neonatal e-Handbook guidelines review and update.