Evaluating the Impact of a Redesigned Model of Maternity Care

Pregnancy care is a critical window for protecting the lifelong health of women and their children. However, maternity systems globally are under increasing pressure due to workforce shortages, rising clinical complexity, increasing costs, and persistent inequities in access and outcomes. Health services are increasingly exploring new models of care to ensure maternity services remain safe, sustainable, and responsive to patient needs. This PhD project will evaluate the impact and experience of a newly redesigned maternity model of care being developed within a large tertiary health service. The redesign will reconsider how pregnancy care is structured and delivered, potentially incorporating innovations such as digital health integration, multidisciplinary care pathways, and new workforce models. The PhD candidate will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of this redesigned model to understand its impact on clinical outcomes, health service performance, patient experience, and workforce sustainability. This project forms part of a broader program of work aimed at developing learning health systems in maternity care, where real-world data are used to continuously evaluate and improve healthcare delivery. Research Aims The PhD will address several key questions: Impact on clinical and health system outcomes - How does the redesigned model influence maternal and neonatal outcomes? - What are the impacts on healthcare utilisation, costs, and efficiency? Patient experience and equity of care - How do women and families experience the new model of care? - Does the model improve accessibility, continuity, and patient-centred care? Workforce experience and sustainability - How does the model affect staff workload, satisfaction, and team functioning? - What factors support or hinder successful implementation? Implementation and scalability - What elements of the model drive success or create barriers? - How can the model be adapted and scaled across other health services? Methods The candidate will apply a mixed-methods evaluation approach, which may include: - Analysis of routinely collected maternity and health service data - Interrupted time-series or quasi-experimental evaluations - Patient surveys and qualitative interviews - Workforce experience assessments - Health economics or value-based care analyses - Implementation science frameworks (e.g., RE-AIM or similar) Environment The project will be conducted within a leading maternity research and clinical program embedded within a major Australian health service and university. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary research team spanning: - Obstetrics and maternal-fetal medicine - Midwifery and maternity care research - Digital health and health systems innovation - Implementation science and health services research Students will have access to large clinical datasets, established research infrastructure, and strong national and international collaborations. Candidate Profile Applicants may come from backgrounds such as: - Medicine, midwifery, nursing, or allied health - Public health or epidemiology - Health services research - Implementation science - Digital health or health informatics - Experience with quantitative analysis, qualitative research, or mixed-methods approaches will be advantageous. Impact This research will generate evidence to guide the future design of maternity services. The findings will inform how health systems can deliver high-quality, equitable, and sustainable pregnancy care in the face of growing demand and workforce constraints.