Media Release - Wednesday 18 June 2003

'Know your midwife' the solution to maternity crisis 

Immediate government initiatives to support a greater choice of maternity carer for ACT women would reduce the harm caused by striking obstetricians, the Maternity Coalition said today. Instead of capitulating to private obstetricians demands, the government should take practical steps to support more choice of carer for the ACT's birthing women.

The comments followed the threat of strike action by private obstetricians and gynaecologists if they don't get the insurance legislation they want from the government by June 30. 

"Its all very well for these highly paid medical practitioners to demand further government help to keep their insurance costs down, but compared to other birth practitioners, they are extremely privileged' said Maternity Coalition President Dr Barbara Vernon. 

"Threatening to hold expectant mothers hostage to their demands is irresponsible and unacceptable. 

"Women are understandably upset about the prospect of having less access to private obstetricians. Having a baby is one of the most important events in a woman's life. What every woman wants most is to be cared for throughout her pregnancy, labour and birth by someone she knows and trusts. 

"The solution to the problem of fewer private obstetricians is not to throw more government money into bailing out doctors. The solution is to provide women with the option of choosing a midwife to provide the continuity of carer that in the past has only been available from doctors' said Dr Vernon. 

Most women today think the safest way to have a baby is with a private obstetrician. But the research shows continuity of care from a midwife is at least as safe and can produce better outcomes. 

Research shows that women who receive care throughout pregnancy, labour and birth from a midwife they know well are more likely to have a normal birth than women who receive standard care. An NHMRC funded Centres of Clinical Excellence study at a Sydney hospital recently showed women were significantly less likely to need caesarean section, fewer babies required admission to the special care nursery and women were happier about their birth experience when they received continuity of midwifery care. 

"It's time the ACT Government stepped past the medical Luddites preventing equality for qualified midwives attending low risk births." Dr Vernon said today. 

Many midwives in Canberra have already left private practice because of the insurance crisis. This reduces women's choices and leaves the government at the mercy of the obstetricians and gynaecologists. The government has failed to protect women choosing this form of care from the insurance crisis. 

The high premiums for obstetricians and gynaecologists reflects unnecessary obstetric intervention in labour and childbirth with sometimes tragic consequences for women and their baby and is not simply vexatious litigation by women. 

The solution to the imminent withdrawal of private obstetricians from practice in Canberra is for the Government to immediately expand the Canberra Midwifery Program to give all ACT women the option of having continuity of care from her own midwife' said Dr Vernon. 

More choice of carer for the ACT's birthing women would reduce reliance on specialist medical care which is not needed, or even wanted for most births.

Media Contacts: 
Maternity Coalition President Dr Barbara Vernon Ph: 02 6230 2107 -  0407 481633