Consumers/Midwives

[NSW Midwives Association Inc]

Hi All, We have a sunny day in Sydney today.   Thanks to everyone who commented on the consumer debate.   As Hannah has mentioned NSWMA is looking at all the issues surrounding partnership with consumers, and all of your comments will help fuel the debates and identify issues neeeding exploration.   It is difficult at times to respond to lenghty discussions when we use different languaues and understandings.  I am looking foward to ongoing discussions in Hobart and as I mentioned there will be lots of oppertunity for input with various committees evolving.   Since my first day of nursing in July 1969 I never shifted my focus from the primary reason for my role as a health care practitioner.  This focus was and always will be the health consumer.  I have worked for thirty years with love, compassion and caring to all the consumers that I have had in my care.  I have always enjoyed positive feedback in relation to my clinical practice and have been committeed to lifelong learning.  Many models/approaches to practice allowed me to do this in a more than satisfactory manner.   I see Partnership as the ultimate goal between clinician and consumer and that is the model which I have used over the last seven years in my own illness. All the practitioners I chose for myself practiced in this way.   The process for a partnership model to occur between all midwives and their consumers will be complex and challenging but as most of you have indicated the energy is there and a way foward is being identified.   Irene Coonan