Judith Meppem, Chief Nurse
Ms Meppem
You should feel a sense of shame regarding the suspension of the Team
Midwifery Project at Hunter Health. As a midwife and mother and academic I
find it offensive that your support of such discriminatory actions should
interfere with a proven model of maternity services delivery. I am
anguished by the lack of respect shown to midwives, the disdain shown to
women, and the disregard to evidence that this model of maternity care is
cheap, effective and acceptable to women and midwives alike. Where is
Hunter Health's evidence that removing such an option for women will save
money? Where is your conscience that in saving money (if indeed this can
be proven) you have allowed to be removed an avenue for accessible,
acceptable, affordable and empowering care THAT WOMEN WANT? These women
are your employers and they want the sort of care that these midwives can
and do deliver. And women all over the world want it, and are receiving it
in increasing numbers, too. As a woman and a colleague you should support
such initiatives, and if they are found to be too costly, which I seriously
doubt, you should find ways to make them more cost-efficient. Instead, you
have shown yourself to support the only, publicly, regressive provider of
maternity services in Australia. Conrgatulations.
Trish David
Midwife in Caseload Practice (formerly of Know Your Midwife)
Lecturer, Tasmanian School of Nursing
Hobart
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