Had my
last baby in Canberra. 43, diabetic, 13 years since last bub, all others
induced, bad shoulder dystocia no.2 (neck dislocated. chiropractor fixed). Went
Medicare. Couldnot fault the doctor. Planned spont. labour, vaginal birth, no
probs. I was expecting a fight, but he was very keen on minimal
intervention. I also worked at a small, GP unit near Canberra. We were
very busy with women from ACT wanting normal births. Then a private hospital
opened a unit, all the obs went there and our numbers want down - because
the Canberra Hospital suddenly reduced intervention rates, quite
dramatically. So now I'm wondering if it is the same obs. I transferred a
woman over, convinced they would Caesar her, and she actually had a vaginal
birth. Canberra also has the community midwife programme, which I was told
was very successful.Enlighten me, please.
Maureen.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Justine Caines
Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 9:23 PM
To: OzMid List
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Human rights/women's rights/rigid policies
Ladies you might want to check to see if the hospitals concerned are signatories to the Women's Friendly Hospital Policy. Although I did point this policy out to RWH Brisbane who are signatories to it and the only person who really applied the criteria in it was the head of midwifery services who finally arranged for me the care which I wanted. The Women's Health Nurse Practitioner Policy also makes an interesting read.
http://www.wha.asn.au/pub_women_friendly_hosp.htm
Debby
Hi Debby and all
The Women Friendly Hospital Policy is a policy of Women�s Hospital�s Australasia (WHA). WHA members are only tertiary hospitals or major maternity units. As we know tertiary hospitals have the highest intervention rates (by the fact that they are teaching hospitals and women equate to teaching material, sorry, sad but true).
Last year, Barb Vernon, myself and Sally Tracy met with WHA�s Executive Officer to seek endorsement of NMAP and provide a general brief on midwifery led care (or the lack there of).
Sadly WHA did not endorse NMAP, so much for the consumer voice!!!.
I will only comment on the WHA member hospital I know about and that is The Canberra Hospital (TCH). We have been in negotiations with high level representatives from TCH for the last 18 months. In May, Maternity Coalition�s lobbying paid off with a $100,000 offered for a homebirth program. Management representatives have fought all the way and to date there is no homebirth program (the joke is none of them are homebirth practitioners, and have probably never witnessed the beauty of a homebirth!!)
The reason I raise this is because when we scratched the surface of the head Obstetrician he very clearly articulated he would only support midwifery models of care if it did not impact on the clinical school (yes that is his �teaching numbers�, yes extrapolate further, pregnant women!!!!!) The Canberra Hospital also has a policy of continuous foetal monitoring for VBAC.
Sorry I am very cynical, until I see hospitals (be they big or small) operating under evidence based protocols and providing international best practice ( autonomous midwifery care for the entire episode) then I see this as just another bunch of words with no meaning!!
Bit like the doonas and prints in �Birth Centres�, they may look pretty, but it�s only the love and skill of a real midwife that will help a woman birth under her own steam.
In solidarity
Justine Caines
Mum to Ruby, 3, Clancy 22 Months and Will 6 months
(all beautiful homebirths)
