MATERNITY SERVICES REPORT: From the Health Minister

THE HON NICOLA ROXON MP

MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING

Media release

21 February 2009



MATERNITY SERVICES REPORT

[Full report]
Better services for Australian mothers and their babies are one step closer with today's release of the Government's report into maternity services.

The report follows a review led by Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer Rosemary Bryant and is a key step in developing a national plan for maternity services.

The report focuses on the need to improve the choices available to pregnant women, access to high quality maternity services, and support for the maternity services workforce.

Australia remains one of the safest countries in the world in which to give birth. The review emphasises that changes to maternity care need to take place within a framework which maintains our strong record of safety and quality, and this will be a priority for the Government.

Recommendations include:
• Improving choice for Australian women by supporting an expanded role for midwives
• Consideration of the expansion of access to Medicare and the PBS for midwives – but only if accompanied by stringent professional requirements for midwives
• Consideration of support for professional indemnity insurance for midwives
• The development of new national cross-professional guidelines to support collaborative multidisciplinary care in line with best practice
• Consideration of the establishment of a single integrated pregnancy-related telephone support line
• Improved data collection and analysis, and further research
• Providing increased support for the maternity workforce, particularly in rural Australia

The report considered Commonwealth funding for homebirths but did not recommend it at this time.


All Australian women should be able to access high quality, safe maternity services, from early pregnancy through to postnatal care.

In 2006, 277,436 women gave birth to 282,169 babies in Australia – the highest number of births since 1971. This just underlines the importance of this report.

One of the Government's concerns is that good maternity health outcomes are not consistent across the country.

By developing a national Maternity Services Plan, we want to ensure that Australian mothers, wherever they live, are provided with the choices and care that they need.

Over 60 per cent of births currently take place in State-run public hospitals. The Maternity Services Plan will be developed over the coming months, and will involve discussions with the States and Territories.

The Australian Government will carefully consider all the recommendations of the report in the development of a National Maternity Services Plan.

The Rudd Government is committed to improving services for mothers and babies.

Maternity Services Review in today's papers

Janie Nottingham, Victorian President of Maternity Coalition, Australia's leading consumer and midwife advocacy organisation, writes:

The release of the report is due today, I have scoured the Internet for some articles and have come up with the following.

The Age

The Australian

Sydney Morning Herald

The long & short of what I can determine from the press is that there is no public funding of homebirth going to be considered in the near future, medicare and pharmceutical prescribing rights are discussed but the details are sketchy. Welcome any discussion and opinions.

Regards

Janie

News from ACM

Australian College of Midwives
Important News Update

Breaking news - Review of Maternity Services

We are anticipating that the federal government's review of maternity services may be released very soon. The review was commissioned by federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon last September, and received over 960 submissions from individuals and organisations interested in maternity care.

Please keep an ear out on your local radio stations for the opportunity to phone in to talk back sessions and share your views about whatever the review might recommend. We have reason to believe the news will be positive for women and midwives but we don't have details.

Maternity Care in Public Hospitals alleged to be unsafe
You will probably be aware that there was media attention given this week to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia alleging that babies are 2-3 times more likely to die if the mother gives birth in a public hospital.

This study is methodologically flawed, and the assertion is false. It does not account for the differences in the health and socioeconomic status of women who access public hospitals from private ones, nor does it account for the fact that most private hospitals do not have neonatal intensive care units, and therefore transfer sick babies to public hospitals.

The ACM provided extensive briefing to newspaper and radio journalists following the release of the article, to clarify the facts about maternity care by public hospitals. An example of one article is here:

Opinion Piece

ACM has also collaborated in this week with the ANF on an opinion piece ahead of the launch of the review. See it at
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/19/2496020.htm

Victorian Media today

An article has appeared today in the Victorian media that may be of interest.

Maternity Units 'herding yards', Tha Age, Friday 20 February 2009:

Health Care Reform Writ large

Lastly, the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission has released its interim report to the Government on Monday this week. There is little specifically about maternity care in the report, but it maps out some options for major structural reform of Australia's health care services that would affect maternity care along with all other areas of care if adopted.

The report is an interim report. The Commission will hand down its final report to the government in June 2009.

To read the overview and/or details of the report, visit the Commission's website: www.nhhrc.org.au



regards Barb

Dr Barbara Vernon
Executive Officer
Australian College of Midwives
Email: executiveofficer@midwives.org.au
Tel: 02 6230 7333
Mob: 0438 855 529
Website: www.midwives.org.au

Can Humanity Survive the Safe Cesarean?

Human beings react differently from other mammals to interference with the birth process. When delivery of non-human mammals is disturbed, the effects are immediate and easily detected. For example, when animals give birth by c-section or with an epidural, the general rule is that the mother is not interested in the baby. Among humans, on the other hand, we need extensive statistics to detect what are mere tendencies and risk factors. These are much more complex in our species: We speak and we create cultural milieux. In certain situations, particularly in the perinatal period, human behavior is less directly under the effects of the hormonal balance than the effects of the cultural milieu. For example, a human mother knows when she is pregnant and can anticipate maternal behavior, while other mammals must wait until the birth when they release a flow of love hormones to kindle their attachment to their newborns.

Today, we understand that to have a baby, a woman—like any other mammal—has been programmed to release a cocktail of love hormones. Today the number of women who actually "give birth" to babies and placentas thanks to this hormonal release is ever-decreasing. First, because many women give by birth by cesarean. Second, most of those who give birth vaginally receive pharmacological interventions. Unfortunately substitutes block the release of the natural hormones and do not create the same behavioural benefits. We have to wonder what will happen, in terms of civilization, if this trend continues in future generations. Can humanity survive the safe cesarean?

— Michel Odent
Excerpted from "The Future of Obstetric Technology," Midwifery Today, Issue 85

Midwifery Today Community Blogs

the midwives of the Congo

My heart is breaking as I listen to this ABC Radio National story of displacement and poverty and rape in the Congo. The transcript gives facts; and while I am reading I am listening to the midwives, who are singing.

We Australian midwives don't sing together - as a general rule! When we get together we have conferences or meetings with agendas, or we go to study days.

As I listen to these midwives singing I don't know what they are saying. But they are blending their voices in a strong and deliberate way. I think their songs will be of women and birth, but also of loss and pain and death - a constant reality. They will be singing their memories of better times, to keep hope uppermost in their minds. The hope for strong resillient families who have plenty to eat, and for a freedom from fear. As I sing the songs of my people I want to remember these sisters who are midwives in Africa.

Australian Midwifery Scholarship

Just a quick reminder that the closing date for the Australian Midwifery Scholarship is the 28th February 2009

The purposes of the Foundation is:

· To provide scholarships for Registered Midwives to undertake research under the auspices of the Trustees of Funds and the promotion of education and practice of midwifery generally.

· To provide financial and other support to assist attendance of midwives at national and international conferences in midwifery and related fields, and the undertaking of study tours to investigate trends in midwifery overseas.

· To provide financial assistance for the sponsorship of visiting midwives to attend midwifery conferences or to undertake study tours within Australia.

· To provide provision of financial assistance for projects directed at public education in the field of maternal and child health.

If you are interested in applying please follow the link below for more information and to download the application form.

All applications can be sent to;

Australian College of Midwives Attn: Luke Sanders

PO BOX 87 Deakin West ACT 2601

Fax: 02 62306033

Email: members@midwives.org.au

Article on insurance in The Australian

*CANBERRA is considering underwriting insurance for independent midwives rather than risk losing all those now in private practice.*

Scores of self-employed midwives could be denied re-registration next
year when a national scheme is introduced, unless their lack of
indemnity cover is resolved.
... more