Continuity of Carer in the Public Hospital System in the Eyes of Rural Women and Maternity Health Providers in Tasmania, Australia

This study investigates Tasmanian maternity health providers’ and rural women’s experiences and views of continuity of care in the public health system and the feasibility of this model is explored. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 women who had childbirth experiences in six rural areas in Tasmania in the past five years. In addition 20 multidisciplinary maternity health providers currently employed by the health care system were also interviewed. Multidisciplinary maternity health providers and rural women believed that continuity of carer would help them build up relationship with each other and contribute to their satisfaction with care. However, both Tasmanian maternity health providers and rural consumers recognised the challenges of providing continuity of carer in the current public health system due to the constraints of human resources. Given the human resource constraints in the public hospital system, women would be happy with the quality of care provided by the team of health professionals.