The maternity crew at the Beaudesert Hospital have proven that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, beating a number of large hospitals across the country to take out the 2022 HESTA outstanding organisation award.
Beaudesert Hospital Nursing and Midwifery Director and Facilities Manager Jacquie Smith said the team in the maternity ward were both stunned and excited to win the national award.
"It's a mixture of excitement, and disbelief that a little country hospital managed to get so far," she said.
"It's an acknowledgement of all the hard work that everybody's put in, including the midwives and rural generalists that look after the women in our community.
"The fact that it's a national award and we were competing against a number of other great organisations, I think it's just so mind blowing for us.
"I'm very, very proud of the midwives and the doctors that run this service."
When asked what sets the service apart from other maternity wards, Ms Smith said the team at Beaudesert saw their smaller size as an advantage rather than a barrier.
"What we believe sets us apart is our connection to the community, our connection to local families, and our ability to individualise care," she said.
"I think we've got the opportunity to do that because we're a smaller maternity service, so I think it does allow us to be able to tailor the care to each woman and their family.
"We do have an MGP model, which is our midwifery group practice, and it means each woman gets their own midwife and everybody receives continuity of care."
Ms Smith credited both the staff and the community for getting the maternity service back up and running after being closed for a decade, saying that the resurgence of rural birthing suites around the state was a huge accomplishment for small communities.
"We reopened at the beginning of 2015 when there was a deep drive in the community to bring birthing back to local women," she said.
"I think there was a general drive in Queensland to bring rural birthing back to local communities and we had very strong community leadership from our council and our local GP who really helped to push it along.
"We were one of the first hospitals to bring birthing back to a rural community and that was a testament to everybody that was involved back then.
"We've sustained that movement and grown since then, and we intend to continue growing and developing."
