BACKGROUND:
High-quality, evidence-based maternity policy is vital because if well-implemented, it can influence health across the lifespan. Australia’s national maternity Strategy (2019) is based on 12 principles of woman-centred care, and underpinned by four core values: safety, respect, choice and access. Little is known about how the Strategy impacts Australian maternity-care.

OBJECTIVES:
To determine if the Strategy meets the intended goal to provide woman-centred care safely and respectfully via access to appropriate services of choice.

METHODS:
An explanatory sequential two-phased mixed-methods design was used. Phase one was a national online quantitative survey, with six open-text questions providing qualitative data, analysed via content analysis. In phase two, 50 women from across Australia were interviewed about their maternity-care experiences; these were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS:
The data from 1,750 survey participants and 50 interviews were analysed. The findings from both research phases indicate that although the values and principles of the Strategy align with those of women in Australia, care is not always received in accordance with them. Women desire holistic, safe care with equal emphasis on emotional/psychological safety as much as physical safety. The need for respectful maternity care was considered paramount. Women wanted autonomy to make informed decisions about their maternity-care that were respected by care providers. They desired accessible care in their preferred location. Women from Australia’s priority populations were less likely to experience care that aligned with the Strategy. Continuity of care models were most strongly associated with receiving aligned maternity care.

CONCLUSIONS:
Despite a shared responsibility by Australian governments to implement the Strategy, a greater commitment is required nationally if the Strategy is to move from an unrealised policy to universally transformative care across Australian maternity services.

KEY MESSAGE:
Moving from policy to practice that impacts the health of future generations requires coordinated implementation between governments, health systems and individual maternity-care providers. Policy - strategy (including three-minute presentation competition)