Yay for Australian women. The oppertuntiy to choose.
Yay for Australian babies. The increased likelihood of a healthy birth.
I shall save my excited rant for another time but let it be sais that as I read this I had hope in my heart & a tear in my eye.
These decisions will have a profound effect on the long term health of our country & the immediate wellbeing of new families.
Births change on way
From: Herald SunMORE women will rely on midwives to deliver their babies under a major overhaul of maternity services.
With a baby boom looming, the Rudd Government wants to promote midwives as a safe alternative to obstetricians -- one of the nation's highest-charging medical professions.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon will launch a major review today led by chief nurse and midwifery officer Rosemary Bryant.
Click here to read the full article on the website
Alternatively, you can copy and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24322270-662,00.html
ps;Hon Nicola Roxon will at lunch time today announce the release
of a discussion paper on improving maternity services in Australia.
The discussion paper is not yet a policy document, it's a summary of
issues on which submissions are invited. The website for the paper is
www.health.gov.au/maternityservicesreview
<http://www.health.gov.au/maternityservicesreview> .. Submissions will
be due by 31 October.
Maternity Review in Australia:
Facing Our 'Inconvenient Truth'
The Australian College of Midwives commends the Commonwealth Government on the launch of its discussion paper on improving maternity services in Australia.
Today is a chance for Australians to face the 'Inconvenient Truth' of a maternity system that is not meeting the needs of women and their families and is turning midwives away from the profession in droves.
It is also time to say enough is enough, with 1:3 women having a caesarean section, most women experiencing fragmented care by strangers and costs of maternity care blowing out to record levels. More and more babies are being born by the roadside as rural services keep closing.
Aboriginal mothers and babies have unacceptably high rates of death and illness. Fewer babies are now breastfed to 6 months of age than 10 years ago, and rates of perinatal depression are now worrying high and on the rise.
The President of the Australian College of Midwives, Professor Pat Brodie said, "We cannot afford to continue to function the way we have for the past 50 years while most of the world is moving on with innovative systems of care that are leading to lower intervention rates and better outcomes for mothers and babies, and where midwives are integral to maternity care rather than being the Cinderella of maternity care."
"The commitment of health Minister Nicola Roxon to reviewing maternity services and acting to improve those services is a most welcome change at national level. Healthy children and healthy families start with maternity care" she said.
Midwives are recognised by the World Health Organization as the most appropriate and cost effective type of health care provider to be assigned to the care of normal pregnancy and normal birth, including risk assessment and the recognition of complications.
"A synthesis of the best international, scientific evidence available shows that when women with normal pregnancies were cared for by midwives they were better supported, more satisfied with their care, have less medical acceleration of their labours, required fewer epidurals and episiotomies, had less need of major surgery for the birth and fewer babies that were underweight or needed resuscitation or admission to a neonatal intensive care unit," said Professor Brodie.
On the 18th to 20th September at the Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise a national conference, 'Breathing New Life into Maternity Care' will see the gathering of midwives, doctors and consumers to face our 'Inconvenient Truth' and work out ways to change maternity care to better meet the needs of women in this country.
Kind Regards
Barbara Vernon
Executive Officer
Australian College of Midwives
Ph: (02) 6230 7333
Fax: (02) 62306033
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