FW: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Trish, It is fabulous that you have been lobbying our local member, but I feel that it is important that you give him the correct information lest you lose credibility. I work at West Gippsland Hospital in Warragul, which is in Christian Zara's electorate and would like to point out the following: "rural birthing using midwife and collaborative models of care (he was really stung when I told him the best example of this was NOT in his electorate" I am a member of a team of 5 midwives who provide collaborative and case load care to women in this hospital. We recieved State funding for this back in May and are in the early stages, providing collaborative care to women having VBAC, history of difficult births, young mums and Koori women. We are being provided with additional upskilling in the meantime, and will then commence our caseload stream when competent in areas of cannulation, suturing etc. This is the model of care the State Gov. wishes to implement across Vic. I have also been the KYM midwife for the past 2 years on the VBAC program, providing 1-2-1 care throught the pregnancy continuum for these women. "When I told him that every hospital in his electorate had double the HWO recommended rate for LUSCS and instruments and were off the scale for other interventions, he seemed knocked out." West Gippsland Hosital figures for 2002 were as follows: NVB 63% vacuum extraction 10% forceps 8% Emergency C/S 11% Elective C/S 7% Intact perineum 66% Perineal tears 29% Episiotomy 3.7% Episiotomy + tear 0.6% VBAC attempts 80% VBAC acheived 60% I think these figures speak for themselves. Some of them are State Benchmarks. Any wonder the poor man "seemed knocked out" Yours in midwifery Carol Van Lochem From: Patricia David [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 05:07:45 + Justine, this is great! I have had success with local Labor Member Christian Zara who put out a letter to all constituents asking us to call him with issues of concern, etc. Well he did open the door! 90 minutes after we started our phone call he has invited me to meet with him to discuss such issues of national policy as: rural birthing using midwife and collaborative models of care (he was really stung when I told him the best example of this was NOT in his electorate), professional indemnity (favouring a national govt insurance scheme for all health professionals with a three-tiered review process that is truly multi-disciplinary and non-adversarial), care of all babies and families who sustain birth injury, not just those who successfully sue, increased numbers of staff specialists with incentives for private obs/GPs who can prove true collaborative models in practice, extra funding and assistance for rural midwifery education aimed at clinical experie! nce support both in rural and metro centres (just like the med students get), equity between medical and nursing and midwifery in terms of support in education such as living away from home allowances, travel and meals, nationalisation of health so that we can enforce midwifery representation on MM committees, as well as have a more direct reimbursement for midwifery services, more accurate measures of costing maternity services and perhaps a commitment to enforce some sort of reimbursement from private doctors who use midwifery services that are publicly paid for but which prop up their incomes! Poor guy got an earful, but he spoke beautifully about women giving birth, midwives assisting, babies being born, etc rather than being delivered, midwives doing deliveries... he even knew very well the difference between midwife and nurse! I complimented him on this and he said he was surrounded by empowered women who didn't want intervention. When I told him that every hospital in his electorate had double the HWO recommended rate for LUSCS and instruments and were off the scale for other interventions, he seemed knocked out. So, his office has contacted me twice looking to set up a meeting so he can gather advice on all these issues. If you know your stuff, they will listen. Go for it! Ring them, especially if they open the door for you to do so. Ring their office and make a meeting! Bring paperwork with you, even if it's just a summary of the main points you want to talk about with some suggestions for finding further information. Trish Justine Caines [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign Dear All Sorry I have not updated you nbsp;all sooner. nbsp; Last Tuesday I met with Deputy PM, Leader of the National Party and my local Federal member, John Anderson. I was cheeky and did pre-emptive media and before we actually met I had done 6 radio slots and he had done 2!! nbsp;This was then followed up with 2 further slots on Thursday (10 minutes each
Re: FW: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Dear Carol, apologies for causing offence, at that stage I wasn't aware his electorate contained Warragul, (have only voted in one federal election in Vic and didn't quite take in all the boundaries) but we did have a discussion about it and your initiatives and fabulous figures. I pointed him also to Wonthaggi as an exception and the fact that they have halved their CS rates to be around the 7-10% in one year. I also told him the bigger the hospital the more likely there was to have intervention, but not necessarily because of the increase in risk. He was very interested and is planning on fact finding around this issue in his district. Your unit will be an example, and I expect he will make a visit. The next step is to get him interested in federal incentives to have your initiatives duplicated across his region. I also pointed him to WA and publicly funded homebirths with midwife entry to hospitals (way outside his electorate and a fantastic example of collaborative care, I reckon) and their great figures, NZ and Holland. Trish Carol Van Lochem [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:Trish, It is fabulous that you have been lobbying our local member, but I feel that it is important that you give him the correct information lest you lose credibility. I work at West Gippsland Hospital in Warragul, which is in Christian Zara's electorate and would like to point out the following: rural birthing using midwife and collaborative models of care (he was really stung when I told him the best example of this was NOT in his electorate I am a member of a team of 5 midwives who provide collaborativenbsp; and case load care to women in this hospital. We recieved State funding for this back in May and are in the early stages, providing collaborative care to women having VBAC, history of difficult births, young mums and Koori women. We are being provided with additional upskilling in the meantime, and will then commence our caseload stream when competent in areas of cannulation, suturing etc. This is the model of care the State Gov. wishes to implement across Vic. I have also been the KYM midwife for the past 2 years on the VBAC program, providing 1-2-1 care throught the pregnancy continuum for these women. When I told him that every hospital in his electorate had double the HWO recommended rate for LUSCS and instruments and were off the scale for other interventions, he seemed knocked out. West Gippsland Hosital figures for 2002 were as follows: NVBnbsp;nbsp; 63% vacuum extractionnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 10% forcepsnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 8% Emergency C/Snbsp; 11% Elective C/Snbsp;nbsp; 7% Intact perineumnbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 66% Perineal tearsnbsp;nbsp; 29% Episiotomynbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 3.7% Episiotomy + tear 0.6% VBAC attemptsnbsp;nbsp; 80% VBAC acheivednbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 60% I think these figures speak for themselves. Some of them are State Benchmarks. Any wonder the poor man seemed knocked out Yours in midwifery Carol Van Lochem nbsp; -- Trish David FACM Senior Lecturer Midwifery and Nursing Monash University School of Nursing Gippsland Campus Northways Road Churchill 3842 (03) 5122 6839 0418 994033 -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit http://www.acegraphics.com.au to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Re: FW: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Trish writes: -I also pointed him to WA and publicly funded homebirths with midwife entry to hospitals Yes we in W.A. have a publicly funded homebirth option (restricted to 150 births/yr) but sadly no midwife entry to hospitals other than as a support person. There is an avenue for midwives to work casually at the FBC and care for private clients there, but once transferred to the labour ward, we are once again support people. MM -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit http://www.acegraphics.com.au to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Re: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Dear Carol It is great to hear of other places where progress is being made toward midwifery led care (EBP for healthy women) Thank you Would you write a summary for the ACMI Newsletter so more Australian midwives can be encouraged by your efforts?? Are there others out there with similar good news?? Denise Hynd "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, they are the only ones who ever have." Margaret Mead - Original Message - From: Carol Van Lochem To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 7:08 PM Subject: FW: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign Trish, It is fabulous that you have been lobbying our local member, but I feel that it is important that you give him the correct information lest you lose credibility. I work at West Gippsland Hospital in Warragul, which is in Christian Zara's electorate and would like to point out the following: "rural birthing using midwife and collaborative models of care (he was really stung when I told him the best example of this was NOT in his electorate" I am a member of a team of 5 midwives who provide collaborative and case load care to women in this hospital. We recieved State funding for this back in May and are in the early stages, providing collaborative care to women having VBAC, history of difficult births, young mums and Koori women. We are being provided with additional upskilling in the meantime, and will then commence our caseload stream when competent in areas of cannulation, suturing etc. This is the model of care the State Gov. wishes to implement across Vic. I have also been the KYM midwife for the past 2 years on the VBAC program, providing 1-2-1 care throught the pregnancy continuum for these women. "When I told him that every hospital in his electorate had double the HWO recommended rate for LUSCS and instruments and were off the scale for other interventions, he seemed knocked out." West Gippsland Hosital figures for 2002 were as follows: NVB 63% vacuum extraction 10% forceps 8% Emergency C/S 11% Elective C/S 7% Intact perineum 66% Perineal tears 29% Episiotomy 3.7% Episiotomy + tear 0.6% VBAC attempts 80% VBAC acheived 60% I think these figures speak for themselves. Some of them are State Benchmarks. Any wonder the poor man "seemed knocked out" Yours in midwifery Carol Van Lochem From: Patricia David [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 05:07:45 + Justine, this is great! I have had success with local Labor Member Christian Zara who put out a letter to all constituents asking us to call him with issues of concern, etc. Well he did open the door! 90 minutes after we started our phone call he has invited me to meet with him to discuss such issues of national policy as: rural birthing using midwife and collaborative models of care (he was really stung when I told him the best example of this was NOT in his electorate), professional indemnity (favouring a national govt insurance scheme for all health professionals with a three-tiered review process that is truly multi-disciplinary and non-adversarial), care of all babies and families who sustain birth injury, not just those who successfully sue, increased numbers of staff specialists with incentives for private obs/GPs who can prove true collaborative models in practice, extra funding and assistance for rural midwifery education aimed at clinical experie! nce support both in rural and metro centres (just like the med students get), equity between medical and nursing and midwifery in terms of support in education such as living away from home allowances, travel and meals, nationalisation of health so that we can enforce midwifery representation on MM committees, as well as have a more direct reimbursement for midwifery services, more accurate measures of costing maternity services and perhaps a commitment to enforce some sort of reimbursement from private doctors who use midwifery services that are publicly paid for but which prop up their incomes! Poor guy got an earful, but he spoke beautifully about women giving birth, midwives assisting, babies being born, etc rather than being delivered, midwives doing deliveries... he even knew very well the difference between midwife and nurse! I complimented him on this and he said he was surrounded by empowered women who didn't want intervention. When I told him that every hospital in his electorate had double the HWO recommended rate for LUSCS and instruments and were off the scale for other interventions, he seemed knocked out.
Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Yes, he is federal, so I will give him an earful on that as well. I can't beleive in her rudeness, did she understand you would lose your money? Trish Justine Caines [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Trish Great work, and so refreshing to brief someone who knows/gets it!! I take it the member is your local federal member? If so perhaps you can inform him that Julia Gillard (shadow health Minister) has now cancelled on a contingent from MC and ACMI twice. I was meant to be in Melb today (and we lost our money on the flight as I had already booked it) Happy to talk on the phone if in fact he is federal labor as he needs to talk to his health minister about listening to us! JC Xx Justine Caines National President Maternity Coalition Inc PO Box 105 MERRIWA NSW 2329 Ph: (02) 65482248 Fax: (02)65482902 Mob: 0408 210273 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit http://www.acegraphics.com.au to subscribe or unsubscribe. -- Trish David FACM Senior Lecturer Midwifery and Nursing Monash University School of Nursing Gippsland Campus Northways Road Churchill 3842 (03) 5122 6839 0418 994033 -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit http://www.acegraphics.com.au to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Hi Trish Great work, and so refreshing to brief someone who knows/gets it!! I take it the member is your local federal member? If so perhaps you can inform him that Julia Gillard (shadow health Minister) has now cancelled on a contingent from MC and ACMI twice. I was meant to be in Melb today (and we lost our money on the flight as I had already booked it) Happy to talk on the phone if in fact he is federal labor as he needs to talk to his health minister about listening to us! JC Xx Justine Caines National President Maternity Coalition Inc PO Box 105 MERRIWA NSW 2329 Ph: (02) 65482248 Fax: (02)65482902 Mob: 0408 210273 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit http://www.acegraphics.com.au to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Dear Justine and others, I have just received a call from my Federal Labour Candidate for Canning Electorate WA (Cimlie Bowden) to tell me that Julia Gillard will be in Armadale WA and 'available to listen' to our concerns about local maternity issues next Monday. We (Peel PRMS Group members Lyn Cornock and myself) have done the ground work with Cimlie and she is 'the full bottle' on NMAP and midwifery-led care, and VERY supportive (she is an RN/midwife). We are campaigning for a midwifery-led Birth Centre in Pinjarra WA, and have started circulating a petition to this effect in the Peel Region, with great responses so far. As I have 7 babies due in the next 7 weeks (eeek!!) I will make sure Lyn can attend, as I can't be SURE to be there. If you want to send me any particular points relating to other areas of Oz please forward them to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The push for birth reform is gathering momentum! In solidarity, Lois Wattis, IPM - WA - Original Message - From: Justine Caines [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: OzMid List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 1:52 PM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign Hi Trish Great work, and so refreshing to brief someone who knows/gets it!! I take it the member is your local federal member? If so perhaps you can inform him that Julia Gillard (shadow health Minister) has now cancelled on a contingent from MC and ACMI twice. I was meant to be in Melb today (and we lost our money on the flight as I had already booked it) Happy to talk on the phone if in fact he is federal labor as he needs to talk to his health minister about listening to us! JC Xx Justine Caines National President Maternity Coalition Inc PO Box 105 MERRIWA NSW 2329 Ph: (02) 65482248 Fax: (02)65482902 Mob: 0408 210273 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit http://www.acegraphics.com.au to subscribe or unsubscribe. -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit http://www.acegraphics.com.au to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Re: [ozmidwifery] Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign
Justine, this is great! I have had success with local Labor Member Christian Zara who put out a letter to all constituents asking us to call him with issues of concern, etc. Well he did open the door! 90 minutes after we started our phone call he has invited me to meet with him to discuss such issues of national policy as: rural birthing using midwife and collaborative models of care (he was really stung when I told him the best example of this was NOT in his electorate), professional indemnity (favouring a national govt insurance scheme for all health professionals with a three-tiered review process that is truly multi-disciplinary and non-adversarial), care of all babies and families who sustain birth injury, not just those who successfully sue, increased numbers of staff specialists with incentives for private obs/GPs who can prove true collaborative models in practice, extra funding and assistance for rural midwifery education aimed at clinical experience support both in rural and metro centres (just like the med students get), equity between medical and nursing and midwifery in terms of support in education such as living away from home allowances, travel and meals, nationalisation of health so that we can enforce midwifery representation on MM committees, as well as have a more direct reimbursement for midwifery services, more accurate measures of costing maternity services and perhaps a commitment to enforce some sort of reimbursement from private doctors who use midwifery services that are publicly paid for but which prop up their incomes! Poor guy got an earful, but he spoke beautifully about women giving birth, midwives assisting, babies being born, etc rather than being delivered, midwives doing deliveries... he even knew very well the difference between midwife and nurse! I complimented him on this and he said he was surrounded by empowered women who didn't want intervention. When I told him that every hospital in his electorate had double the HWO recommended rate for LUSCS and instruments and were off the scale for other interventions, he seemed knocked out. So, his office has contacted me twice looking to set up a meeting so he can gather advice on all these issues. If you know your stuff, they will listen. Go for it! Ring them, especially if they open the door for you to do so. Ring their office and make a meeting! Bring paperwork with you, even if it's just a summary of the main points you want to talk about with some suggestions for finding further information. Trish Justine Caines [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Lobbying Update and Federal Election Campaign Dear All Sorry I have not updated you nbsp;all sooner. nbsp; Last Tuesday I met with Deputy PM, Leader of the National Party and my local Federal member, John Anderson. I was cheeky and did pre-emptive media and before we actually met I had done 6 radio slots and he had done 2!! nbsp;This was then followed up with 2 further slots on Thursday (10 minutes each duration) on ABC Southern NSW and Nth West NSW. John was reasonably responsive and my entire pitch was based on rural issues (this being his responsibility and interest). nbsp;He without saying showed concern about the procreation plans of nbsp;families on welfare (I am in no way simplifying this but there has been a buzz around my local area across shopping centres and amongst those hanging around the courts etc. nbsp;So I decided to use its currency to lead in to the need for support etc for women and families and outline how one to one midwifery would provide this. I also said that in rural areas midwifery had the capacity to also fill the gaps with women#8217;s health and early childhood (if midwives wanted to do the additional training etc). He made a murmur at a $3,000 birth package being a fair bit more than the Medicare Benefit Schedule (I don#8217;t know how I didn#8217;t leap out of the chair!) but with figurative stock whip I lashed him with some fact. He asked how we would see it operating. I said either as tied grants to the states to establish community midwifery programs or Medicare provider numbers and quickly said I was terribly tired of hearing that extending Medicare to midwives had implications for Dentists (although they are now using Dentists to a limited capacity!!)and Chiropractors. I said Midwives provide the exact service that Obs do (when birth is normal) and that the birth numbers would not necessarily change. I know some are against Medicare provider numbers (with the argument that it limits antenatal visits nbsp;etc. nbsp;But now that Abbott has given the green light for Obs to package their care it may just be the way to go. I left him saying I would follow up shortly and he promised to read NMAP as he was being driven to his next appointment (his electorate is HUGE). I think we need to lobby the coalition pretty hard. nbsp;If anyone has a
