MIPP Recommendations to the Review

Summary of Recommendations to the Review
• that all basic maternity service issues be applied to the woman, rather than to the service provider.
• that midwives be authorised to order appropriate tests for women in their care (ie within the scope of the midwife’s practice)
• that midwives be authorised to prescribe appropriate medications, such as oxytocic drugs and Anti-D immunoglobulin
• that professional indemnity insurance be available for midwives who are self employed, with an equal arrangement to that which is provided by the government to support medical practitioners
• that women who plan homebirth with an independent midwife be able to claim the same public funding that would be applied to their care as those who plan to give birth in a public hospital (ie, the funding is linked to the woman, not to the service provider)
• that the option of homebirth be made available to women who plan to give birth without medical intervention.
• that incentive schemes be set up to reward maternity services and midwives who demonstrate effective care which minimises unwarranted interventions.
• that steps be taken to enable women and midwives to work together to improve maternity services, particularly those provided for well women who do not require medical intervention.
• that programs of community education and professional education be facilitated to bring about greater awareness and valuing of physiologically normal birth as the safest way of birth for most mothers and babies.
• that the BaBs model of community based peer support be made available to all women, as part of a package of reforms that have been foreshadowed in the Maternity Services Review.
• that peer support services be managed locally, with support within the infrastructure of local maternity service provision.
• urgent reform to remove the funding monopoly that restricts access to midwife-led basic maternity care, and gives unfair advantage to medical practitioners providing the same services.
• that the Government remove restrictions on midwifery practice, including lack of government funding for midwives’ services, and lack of hospital visiting access for midwives, which is linked to a lack of professional indemnity insurance
• that the Government provide the means for all women to choose midwife-led maternity care
• that independent midwifery practice be accepted by the Review as an effective model for midwife-led maternity services.
• that all infrastructure for publicly funded maternity services be developed within the principle of woman-centred care.