Australian Private Midwives Association

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Senate Inquiry into AHPRA

Link here to the Senate Inquiry into AHPRA.

Submissions should be received by 14 April 2011.

All midwives in this country are registered and regulated through Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

The federal Opposition Health spokesman Peter Dutton MP has called for a Senate enquiry into the workings of AHPRA.

Many midwives, and women who employ us privately, are concerned about the process that has been implemented by AHPRA for midwives applying for notation on the Register as eligibile for Medicare provider numbers - a reform that was implemented by the government in November 2010. Submissions by midwives' organisations, individual midwives, and women who want midwives to attend them privately, will address the excessive and repeated delays in processing applications.

Women whose midwives are waiting for their notations of eligibility are, understandably, distressed. Clients of midwives who have Medicare Provider numbers are able to claim substantial rebate - estimated up to $1000 in total, on prenatal and postnatal care provided by the midwife. The failure of a midwife to achieve eligibility means that this amount of money, to which the women/clients are entitled, cannot be accessed.

Please note that there are Procedures to be observed by Senate Committees for the protection of witnesses.

Your comments here are welcome, as are your submissions to the Senate inquiry.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Revision of INFOSHEET

Revised INFOSHEET, A baby's transition from the womb to the outside world.
If you would like a .pdf copy of this INFOSHEET, please send an email request to Joy Johnston joy[at]aitex.com.au
Thankyou for your comments.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

INFOSHEET: A BABY’S TRANSITION FROM THE WOMB TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Please read through this INFOSHEET, and post any comments about the statements made, the evidence to support those statements, and the usefulness of the information.

A BABY’S TRANSITION FROM THE WOMB TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Review of INFOSHEETS

Blog readers are invited to download INFOSHEETS, in preparation for their review.

The current set of INFOSHEETS were a project of Maternity Coaliton, to present reliable consumer information on key maternity topics. The INFOSHEETS project was led by midwife Joy Johnston (the editor of this blog and several others).

The INFOSHEETS series are designed to assist women to question and communicate with their care-givers, and make informed decisions about their maternity care, promoting care that is appropriate for the individual woman.

The current INFOSHEET topics are:

Congratulations Justine Caines!

Today's Australia Day honors list included the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) being awarded to Justine Maree CAINES, who is well known to APMA as a maternity consumer activist.

Justine Caines, OAM

Citation: For service to the community, particularly in the area of women's health, maternity care and education.

September 2009, Canberra - more than 2000 people protest the government's maternity reforms, which threatened to deny Australian women the right to homebirth with a private midwife.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Eligible Midwives

Notation on the Register of Midwives as an 'eligible midwife' enables that midwife to apply to Medicare for a provider number, thereby providing rebate from the Australian government's Medicare program on certain midwifery services. Eligible midwives will also be able to prescribe certain scheduled medicines, after completion of an approved course of study, and after State and Territory laws have been amended to allow midwives to prescribe.

The national Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia's (NMBA) Guidelines and Assessment Framework for Registration Satandard for Eligible Midwives and Registration Standard for Endorsement for Scheduled Medicines for Eligible Midwives (pictured above) is available for downloading as a .pdf document at the Codes and Guidelines section of the NMBA website.

WHO ARE WE?

The Australian Private Midwives Association represents midwives in private practice. The association is focused on the safety of women, the ability of women to access quality midwifery care across Australia and the partnerships between women and midwives. APMA supports women’s choice in maternity options within a framework of quality and safety and believes in women being able to access midwives in all settings. APMA unites all midwives seeking to provide continuity of care for women.

APMA strives to provide midwives in private practice with information relevant to their practice and advocacy in the political process.

Enquiries:
Joy Johnston joy@aitex.com.au
Marie Heath NSW and National 0407 266004
Clare Lane (Vic) 0416 130219

APMA POSITION STATEMENT on PLANNED HOME BIRTHS WITH A MIDWIFE

1. We support home birth with a midwife in attendance for women who have uncomplicated labours. 2. We support and adopt the International Confederation of Midwives’ (ICM) Definition of the Midwife (2011), which is foundational to all midwifery practice, including homebirth. 3. We support the right of every woman to access a midwife as the primary maternity caregiver who works in partnership with the woman throughout the episode of care, who is able to be the responsible professional in attendance at the birth either at home or hospital, and who is able to make appropriate referral and transfer of care when required. 4. We support the right of a midwife to practise privately in a fee-for-service or funded relationship with the client, or to take up employment. 5. We support only those regulatory restrictions that are able to pass the ‘public interest’ test: “How does this promote health and wellbeing in the mother and baby?” 6. We support an expectation of equity, including equal pay for equal work throughout a midwife’s scope of practice. Midwives who provide primary maternity care are entitled to the same public funding, the same opportunity to charge a fee-for-service, the same access to hospital referral, and publicly supported indemnity insurance, as medical practitioners providing the same maternity services. 7. We support processes by which midwives are able to gain experience and mentoring in order to commence and demonstrate competence in homebirth practice. 8. We support seamless and reliable processes by which midwives are able to make hospital bookings for women planning homebirth, and arrange transfer to the hospital in a timely way when needed.