Victorian Minister for Health, The Hon Mary-Anne Thomas, visits Northern Health for International Women’s Day

The Victorian Minister for Health, The Hon Mary-Anne Thomas, attended the Northern Health Foundation International Women’s Day (IWD) breakfast to learn more about the expansion of Northern Health’s Family Planning Clinic. The Northern Health Family Planning Clinic (NHFPC) is improving access to sexual and reproductive healthcare in Melbourne’s northern suburbs through no-cost abortion care, contraception advice, and STI prevention and treatment.

Debra Bourne, COO of Northern Health, Eleanor Johnson, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, MacHSR Fellow and Northern Health Research Midwife, The Hon Mary-Anne Thomas MP, Victorian Minister for Health, Kate Chaouki, Clinical Midwife Consultant and Northern Health Family Planning Clinic Coordinator, and Nicole Carlon, Northern Health Divisional Director (Nursing Operations and Women’s and Children’s Services) seated together at a round table in the conference room.Debra Bourne, COO of Northern Health, Eleanor Johnson, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, MacHSR Fellow and Northern Health Research Midwife, The Hon Mary-Anne Thomas MP, Victorian Minister for Health, Kate Chaouki, Clinical Midwife Consultant and Northern Health Family Planning Clinic Coordinator, and Nicole Carlon, Northern Health Divisional Director (Nursing Operations and Women’s and Children’s Services).

The Minister and local member Kat Theophanous MP also met with Kate Chaouki, Clinical Midwife and NHFPC Coordinator, and Eleanor Johnson, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Melbourne Academic Centre for Health Services Research (MacHSR) Fellow and Northern Health Research Midwife, about their midwife-led research partnering with the community to co-design comprehensive abortion care in Melbourne’s north.

Northern Health is promoting nursing and midwifery research through partnerships with the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University, and the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (MACH). Kate Chaouki and Eleanor Johnson initiated the Partnering with the community to co-design a comprehensive abortion care service in Melbourne’s north: A mixed methods multiphase study, which brings together patients, Northern Health staff, and community stakeholders to design a person-centred service aimed at minimising barriers to access and improving outcomes. This work is supported by grant funding from the University of Melbourne, the Victorian Nursing and Midwifery Trust, and a MACH Health Service Research Future Leaders Fellowship.

The project will involve several stages, including a service audit, key informant interviews, an online survey, consumer interviews and co-design workshops.

A stock image of women of various backgrounds.

Participants go into the draw for winning four $50 gift vouchers.

The team are now recruiting women and gender-diverse people aged 18-49 years who live in Melbourne and have accessed abortion care, or would consider accessing abortion care in the event of an unintended pregnancy, for an anonymous survey to help researchers understand your experiences and ways to improve care locally.

The survey will take approximately ten minutes to complete, and participants could win one of four $50 gift vouchers.

Check your eligibility and participate

The multidisciplinary research team leading the study includes Kate Chaouki and Eleanor Johnson, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, with support from Associate Professor Lisa Hui, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Professor Cathy Vaughan, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, alongside further colleagues Dr Jeanie Henderson and Professor Bodil Rasmussen.

This study has received ethical approval from the Austin Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC/91066/Austin-2022-345023) and is supported by the Northern Health and the University of Melbourne.