Publicly funded homebirth in Australia: a review of maternal and neonatal outcomes over 6 years

Catling-Paull, Christine; Coddington, Rebecca L; Foureur, Maralyn J; Homer, Caroline S E

doi:10.5694/mja13.11003

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In reply: We agree that our retrospective review 1 did not provide all the details about neonatal morbidity and mortality. There were limited data available on the reasons for hospital transfer and neonatal death. We explained these limitations in the article and have hence embarked on a wider study of birthplace in Australia.2

Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence: christine.catling-paull@uts.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Catling-Paull C, Coddington RL, Foureur MJ, Homer CSE; the Birthplace in Australia Study and the National Publicly-funded Homebirth. Publicly funded homebirth in Australia: a review of maternal and neonatal outcomes over 6 years. Med J Aust 2013; 198: 616-620. <MJA full text>
2. Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health. Birthplace in Australia. Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney, 2013. http://www.nmh. uts.edu.au/cmcfh/research/birthplace.html (accessed Jul 2013).
3. Newnham J (Chair). 13th report of the Perinatal and Infant Mortality Committee of Western Australia for deaths in the triennium 2005–07. (Report No. HP10489 Jan 11.) Perth: Department of Health WA, 2010. http://www.health.wa.gov. au/publications/documents/perinatal/13th_report_perinatal_infant_mortality_2005-7.pdf (accessed Nov 2013).

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