Labour of love needs more labour, chief midwife says

A state's chief midwife has welcomed an increase in the midwifery workforce, but says more are needed to properly support women through pregnancy, birth and beyond.

There has been a 10 per cent increase in midwives in NSW since June 2023, with more than 3400 currently employed across the state.

Donna Garland, the state's first chief midwife, has welcomed the hiring push but said more needed to be done to ensure a sustainable future workforce.

"Recruitment and growing our own midwives - it's a job that we're always going to have to do," Ms Garland told AAP.

"A lot of our midwives are having their own babies, so we're always having to support them and create new midwives, but we're doing that really well.

"We need enough midwives to match the care that women require, so the more midwives, the more time they have to give women."

Ms Garland has been a midwife for 38 years, but only became the chief in March.

The role was a recommendation implemented after the state's inquiry into birth trauma from 2024.

Ms Garland is using her new elevated position to be a voice for women at what can be a vulnerable time in their lives, and said she was proud of new initiatives to improve midwifery continuity of care.

"That's where a woman meets her midwife and that midwife provides all of her pregnancy care," she said.

"When the woman goes into labour or has a planned birth, that midwife will meet her to support her and provide her care.

"Then when the woman goes home, that midwife will be coming to her house to provide the postnatal care as well.

"So during that pregnancy, the midwife and the woman are developing a relationship. There's trust.

"The woman doesn't have to repeat her story, and that's where we're negating the trauma space."