Dear all, Two days ago - on Wed 23 Oct Aden Ridgeway (Democrats Senator) moved a motion in the Senate as an Urgent Matter of Public Importance on midwifery and insurance issues. The full text of the motion and debate will be available on the Hansard at the following url: http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/dailys/ds231002.pdf and go to page 5544. If you have any trouble getting this url to open, as it is an Acrobat file, go first to http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/hanssen.htm and click on Oct 23.
The motion reads: "that in the opinion of the Senate the following is a matter of urgency: The need for the Federal Government to act to include midwives in the medical insurance rescue package, as by next week all agencies supplying contract and casual midwives � around one quarter of all working midwives - will be unable to obtain professional indemnity insurance cover precipitating an immediate crisis in the safe birth of babies in both public and private hospitals" Senator Ridgeway's speech in the Senate said that 25% of midwives are employed as contractors and on a casual basis and therefore that there will be a dramatic impact on midwifery services across Australia when this workforce is unable to continue working next week due to the lack of PI cover. He also mentioned the effects of a lack of PI on the 500 midwifery students who are currently unable to gain clinical experience because of a lack of PI for their placements. He called on the Federal Government to take immediate steps to do something about this crisis and criticized the Government for failing to include midwives in the PI deals being done for doctors which the Prime Minister announced today. Senator Ridgeway's speech also refereed to the WHO stipulation of midwives as the most appropriate and cost effective carer for healthy women. He also quoted from the NMAP. for a full account of his speech visit the url given above. The Government response was weak. Speaking for the Government, Senator Knowles. She said, "I do not think anyone would underestimate the role of many of the midwives. But one of the things that Australia has to come to grips with is whether the government now has to step in for every group of people and provide cover, insurance and backup". "Government...is now becoming more of a hammock than a safety net. The attitude of many people could certainly develop so that they could like back and say 'I does not matter what happens the taxpayer will pick up the tab..." She goes on to say "some of these midwives have got no coverage not because of any lack of government initiative but because insurance companies believe many of the midwives are a high risk". She argues that the Government can't tell insurance companies who to insure. Senator Knowles made a couple of comments about not wanting to demean the important work done by midwives, and then returned to an argument against doing anything to help. She claimed that midwives and doctors are different because doctors already have insurance so the Government can help make premiums affordable, whereas since midwives don't have any insurance it's beyond the Governments ability to do anything. She also argued that doctors are covered by medical indemnity which is different because midwives are covered by professional indemnity. Her only solution was that its up to the State and Territory Governments to do something since they have responsibility for registering midwives and for professional standards affecting midwives. The ALP spoke in favour of the motion (Senator McLucas from Qld - a woman who by her comments has personal experience of one-to-one midwifery care). Independent Senator Meg Lees and Greens Senator Kerrie Nettle were both planning to speak in support of the motion but the Government and Opposition combined to limited debate to 3 speakers so they did not speak. After limited debate the motion by Senator Ridgeway was passed. # # # I would encourage everyone to send letters to Senator Coonan (Assistant Treasurer with responsibility for indemnity issues), Senator Kay Patterson (Minister for Health) and to Senator Knowles noting their lack of action on this issue. Letters should emphasize that this is an issue affecting thousands of midwives, and women's choice of a known midwife. It is not, as Senator Knowles implied, an issue affecting only a few hundred independent midwives and their clients. Furthermore, the question should be raised of why insurance companies see midwifery as a risk, when there is no history of claims against midwives in Australia. it is obstetric litigation not litigation against midwives that is driving the perception that birth is risky - and the government is bailing out only the professionals who have created the problem and not those affected by it. We also need to make clear to these Senators that we are talking about the same service here - that of caring for largely healthy pregnant women, who eventually give birth to a baby. We need to ask the government to justify their decision to use hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars to support clear over-servicing of the healthy majority of women by obstetric specialists when they could instead invest taxpayers dollars in supporting midwives to provide the same outcomes for the majority of women for a lower cost. Mailing address for these people is their name and title, Parliament House Canberra 2600. I'd appreciate if you could email me a copy of the letter(s) you send. Written letters rather than emails are likely to be more effective. And ask Ministers for a response to your concerns. It is essential that those Senators who are publicly supporting our campaign are themselves supported by consumers, midwives, and midwifery students affected by the lack of professional indemnity cover for midwives. Barb Vernon President Maternity Coalition -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
