Paula Wells - Midwife of the Year

"Paula always listened to and respected my concerns, even if they were silly, and helped me overcome the trauma of my first birth. She assisted me to have a completely pain free birth and overcome my fear of childbirth. I am indebted to Paula and so grateful to her for her patience, time and energy in enabling me to have a positive birth experience this time around."

This heartfelt message is one of the many reasons neither staff nor patients at King Edward Memorial Hospital would have been surprised to see Paula Wells awarded Australian Midwife of the Year earlier this month.

Indeed, it is just one of many patient submissions to the Care Opinion website singing Paula's praises after the clinical midwife looked after them.

"The fact that these women took the time and effort to voice their thanks to an anonymous service during their tired and busy postnatal period speaks reams about the contribution Paula makes," colleague Virginia Power says.

“Knowing how integral Paula’s professionalism and care is to both patients and staff, it is wonderful to see her work recognised on a national scale.”

Paula, who provides antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care to a mixed risk group of women, has been part of King Eddie’s Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) since its inception in 2016.

Her experience in a similar program was integral to MGP’s development, guiding the team through start-up and helping to lead and support student, graduate, registered and clinical midwives.

Paula is also on the panel to interview graduate midwives who apply to join MGP for the second half of their graduate year. She then helps mentor successful graduates.

In addition, Paula also consults with multi-disciplinary teams to ensure safe, appropriate women-centred care, and develops and facilitates childbirth education classes.

“My greatest passion in midwifery is continuity of midwifery care,” Paula says. “I truly believe that every woman, no matter what variations may occur during her pregnancy, labour, birth or postnatal period, deserves a known midwife to support her and her family through this journey.”

It’s the reason why Paula has spent most of her midwifery career in the MGP model of care, where she can see the difference it makes to women and their babies, including more positive birth experiences and decreased pre-term births.

“This continuity is so beneficial, especially when a woman’s journey deviates from the path it was expected to travel; the relationship is everything,” Paula says.

“I feel privileged to be in a position where I know the woman so well and am able to facilitate the care she wants by protecting her birth space and advocating for her.”

Her exemplary care has also been acknowledged by her team members, with a nomination for the North Metropolitan Health Service’s GEM (Going the Extra Mile) Awards.

“Paula’s passion for the Midwifery Practice Group shines through in her daily practices and she consistently leads by example through positivity and motivation to provide excellent care,” they wrote in their nomination for the Empowering and Engaging our Workforce category.

“Paula develops and maintains supportive, positive relationships within the team, never failing to make herself available for support when others need it. Paula provides guidance in relation clinical care, as well as fatigue management, time management and emotional self-care, ensuring all team members are feeling safe and healthy at all times.

“Her love and joy for the work she does is infectious. Paula genuinely inspires her colleagues to share her passion and love for the work. She creates an open, supportive, nurturing team environment and demonstrates respect, joy and compassion in her leadership.”

In just one example of Paula “going the extra mile”, she analysed all MGP feedback from women and families on the Care Opinion website in her own time.

She documented the reviews, linking comments with appropriate midwives, and presented the feedback to the team, providing positive reinforcement during a really busy time.

“This example of Paula’s constant support and encouragement instils confidence in her colleagues, inspiring them to also go the extra mile, knowing their efforts are noticed and appreciated,” Virginia says.

Paula represents the team in quality improvement projects, clinical trials and pilot projects to enhance the care of women and babies, such as the implementation of the Antenatal Risk Questionnaire (ANRQ) and a new tool for screening of family and domestic violence.

She has also built partnerships with universities, educating midwifery students about MGP. These talks inspire students to undertake the continuity of care aspect of their course with enthusiasm and the knowledge that it will make a difference to women.

On top of her full-time clinical load, Paula is an executive committee member of the Australian College of Midwives (ACM), the country’s peak professional body. She provides ongoing commitment to running conferences, fund-raising activities, political involvement and as Treasurer, demonstrates consistent proactive support of all midwives in the State. Her deep-rooted passion has motivated other midwives to join ACM activities.

But it is her passion for the MGP model that really drives Paula, who is constantly advocating for wider access to the program.

“I feel it is an important part of my role to discuss the positive aspects of working this way and as such I have presented at in-service education sessions in various departments around the hospital,” she says.

Her presentations help dispel some of the myths of working in an on-call capacity, which is particularly important at a time when so many health care professionals are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.

“I let other midwives know that MGP is incredibly rewarding due to the amazing relationship building and realisation that the bond of trust, which starts as a kernel, grows and develops to become strong and deep,” she says.

“It encourages women to open up and disclose and discuss their worries, hopes, fears and wishes. This relationship is gold and so enabling; I feel it makes the most enormous difference in so many ways.”

This patient of Paula’s, who was admitted at 33 weeks with pre-eclampsia, would wholeheartedly agree.

“I am especially grateful to have received ongoing support and visits from my MGP midwife during my admission, who made the whole unexpected month more manageable,” she wrote via the Care Opinion website.

“Having known her from my prior antenatal appointments, I felt comfortable asking her all my questions about pre-eclampsia and what it might mean for my baby and me, that I wasn’t comfortable asking teams of doctors on ward rounds. Knowing she would still be there for my birth was especially reassuring, given every other aspect of my late pregnancy and birth plan was very different to what I imagined.”

Congratulations Paula on your well-deserved award. Everyone at KEMH is so proud of your work and the care and concern you show your patients and your colleagues every single day.