THE HON NICOLA ROXON MP
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING
MEDIA STATEMENT – 5 NOVEMBER 2009
Midwives/ Nurse Practitioner Amendment
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon has today circulated an amendment the Government intends to introduce into the Health Legislation (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill and the Midwife Professional Indemnity (Commonwealth Contribution) Scheme Bill.
This amendment makes clear in the legislation something that was articulated both on introduction of the Bill to parliament and in the explanatory material tabled at that time.
Following requests for clarification, this amendment will simply clarify in legislation that collaborative arrangements with medical practitioners will be required to access the new arrangements.
The details of these requirements will be specified in subordinate legislation following the ongoing consultation with the professional groups.
These bills are a key plank of the Government’s 2009/10 Budget commitments which recognises for the first time the role of appropriately qualified and experienced midwives and nurse practitioners in our health system.
The Minister for Health and Ageing said today “I thank the doctors, nurses and midwives for their constructive engagement to date to ensure these new opportunities for nurses and midwives are implemented in an integrated fashion for the benefit of patients.”
For more information contact the Minister’s office on 02 6277 7220
1 comment:
As has been said previously on this blog, the government is attempting to redefine midwifery in Australia. We don’t know what working in a “collaborative arrangement” will look like, but the Minister intends to make it legislation.
Midwives are, in fact, constantly working with medical practitioners, whenever the need arises. That is covered in our definition. Women who are in a midwife's care, and who do not need medical input, are those who are well and able to proceed through their natural physiological processes in birthing without artificial stimulation or pain management.
Post a Comment