The Midwifery Group Practice is a program that sees women matched with a midwife who cares for the expectant mother during pregnancy, labour and birth, and who also conducts home visits after the baby is born.

In Tasmania, the program began in 2012 and was rolled out in Launceston in 2014 and the North West in 2016.

Recent figures show that in 2019 249 women accessed the program at the Launceston General Hospital, which jumped to 279 women last year.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Tasmanian secretary Emily Shepherd said there was always a need for alternative models of care in pregnancy.

"We certainly know through our MGP members and anecdotally from women who have accessed the service that they find it a great model in terms of that continuity of care, where they have dedicated midwives to support them through the antenatal period, right through the birth and then postnatally," she said.

"There are obvious reasons why some women may not necessarily be eligible for that service, they have complicated medical conditions for example, but for well-women, it is a fantastic model of care."

Some of the known advantages of the MGP include a greater birth satisfaction, safer birth outcomes for mother and baby, better breastfeeding outcomes and a shorter stay in hospital post-delivery.

There is also a better chance for a natural delivery with less need for epidurals, inductions and caesarean sections, benefits which echo the advantages of homebirth, where natural vaginal delivery stands at almost 100 per cent.

Ms Sheperd said the ANMF would be very keen to see homebirth as an option, but insurance was a major inhibitor.

"We know many of our midwives are supportive of that as well, but as it stands, the insurance for midwives to be able to achieve required insurance coverage to perform homebirths continues to be problematic."