Caption: Christchurch mother Katie Green with baby Will says she's going to attend the Canterbury DHB's Maternity Journey Workshop in February and will be encouraging her friends to go too

Media release from Canterbury DHB

Listening to what parents and whānau feel about maternity services in the region will be the focus of a workshop the Canterbury District Health Board is planning for early next year.

The three-hour workshop is designed to gain input from mothers, particularly those who have recently experienced maternity services in Canterbury, as well as maternity health professionals and other organisations associated with pregnancy and motherhood.

Canterbury DHB, Director of Midwifery, Samantha Burke says it's time to talk about the maternity journey and work out how it can be improved.

"And the women that have used the service or are currently using it are best placed to decide what they need," she says.

"This is an opportunity for all parents, whānau and health professionals to get together to discuss opportunities to improve care and support for women through the maternity journey."

Canterbury DHB hopes to ask a series of key questions to find out how mothers feel about current maternity services, what they know about pregnancy, how well they were supported before and during pregnancy, their birth experience and how prepared they were for being at home with their baby.

Once the main themes have emerged from the responses to the questions, groups will be established to explore the best way to address them.

This may include: developing models of service delivery that will improve the continuum of care from pre conception, to antenatal, to labour and birth, to six weeks post delivery; encouraging innovative thinking for improved outcomes for mothers and babies; advising and contributing to the development of Canterbury's facilities master plan; highlighting workforce needs in line with service development.  

New mum Katie Green says the workshop is a great idea to help give parents an opportunity to talk about their experiences and provide a voice on how they want services shaped.

"I think a lot of people will be interested. A lot of new mums want to talk about that stuff," Katie says.

Mums are particularly interested in how they can find the right Lead Maternity Carer for them personally and sharing ideas on this would be really useful, she says.

Katie says she will be contacting all her friends that have recently had babies to tell them about the workshop and encourage them to attend and also ask their friends to come along too.

The workshop will be held Tuesday, February 15, 2011, at Christchurch Netball Centre from 9am-noon. Morning tea and a crèche will be available.