The term ‘continuity of care’ is getting used more and more when it comes to general patient care. But there are actually two terms that regularly get interchanged – continuity of care and continuity of carer. Here we compare the two and see how they apply to you.

Continuity of care refers to the seamless sharing of information between an inter-professional collaborative team, who support you with a specific health issue. This type of care should be standard for any medical needs you have.

Continuity of carer is when you make appointments with the same trusted health care provider, who continuously sees you throughout your treatment. Both forms are important but continuity of carer is the one generally referred to when this term is used because it has been shown to provide better medical outcomes for patients.

Continuity of carer is only available in some models of care. This is important to consider when choosing your primary care provider as some offer complete continuity while others can only offer fragmented care. Generally, care providers who offer higher levels of continuity have better physical and mental outcomes for mothers and babies.

‘Midwifery-led continuity of care’ currently meets the term ‘continuity of carer’ most closely. This systematic review found that ‘midwifery continuity of care’ results in fewer instrumental births, fewer preterm births, a smaller risk of stillbirth/neonatal loss and a higher chance of having care from a midwife they already know, when compared to other models of care. The World Health Organisation uses this study as a reference for recommending midwifery-led care in pregnancy.

Below you can find a table that shows the different levels of continuity of carer that maternity care providers generally offer. We also recommend you take a look out our models of care page, to help you decide which care provider and birth place combination suits you best.