Maternity care is delivered in different ways and these are referred to as ‘models of care’. At a service level, a maternity model of care describes how and where care is provided, the carers involved and the continuity of carer within them. A model of care can be tailored to meet the needs of a specific group of women and may vary by location and service. Many maternity services provide more than one model to meet the needs of their communities.
In 2025, around 1,100 models of care were reported as being in use across 248 maternity services in Australia. This report explores the key characteristics of these models to provide insights into how maternity care is delivered.
- Cat. no: PER 118
Key findings
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The most common model category is public hospital maternity care (42% of models)
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Over three-quarters (77%) of models provide residential postnatal visits
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Nearly half of maternity services (46%) have a midwifery continuity of carer model, an increase from 42% in 2024
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The number of services with a model designed for First Nations women increased from 36% in 2024 to 38% in 2025