The Labour Government should be valuing midwives more than their own ideology, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.
Answers to written questions show $60 million of maternity money has been put aside for Labour’s health system restructure.
“No wonder midwives are feeling undervalued, not only is Labour unwilling to stump up the extra cash for them, but it’s taking money away from the sector to pay for its bureaucratic restructure.
“All up Labour is spending $486 million on the health restructure, which is only going to create layer upon layer of bureaucracy when what we actually need is more doctors, nurses and money for cancer drugs.
“Kiwis value our midwives more and our health workforce more than they value Labour’s need for more bureaucrats in Wellington.
“Labour is spending billions of taxpayer dollars but we aren’t seeing any results.
“KiwiBuild is still a failure. Light Rail still hasn’t left the station. There are still 4000 children living in motels. Kids aren’t turning up to school. There has been barely any progress on the new inpatient mental health facilities.
“Every dollar Labour directs into its ideological restructure is a dollar that isn’t available to pay for cancer drugs, for nurses, midwives and doctors.”
Note: WPQ below:
Reply 30042 (2021) has been answered to Dr Shane Reti 30 July 2021
Portfolio: Health (Associate – Hon Dr Ayesha Verall)
Question: What initiatives from the Government’s maternity action plan and budget 2020 funding, has $180m been spent on, and how much of that is directly on maternal mental health?
Reply: The $180 million committed in the Government’s Budget 2020 for maternity was allocated as follows:
$85m over 4 years was invested in the Primary Maternity Services Notice to support primary maternity services in the community, $35m over 4 years was invested to support and stabilise the wider maternity sector through the Maternity Action Plan and $60m over 4 years was committed to support the Health and Disability Review reforms.
I announced the new Primary Maternity Services Notice 2021 (the Notice) on 30 June 2021, which will go live on 29 November 2021. New modules within the New Notice focus on delivery of Budget 2020 funding for rural and social/clinical complex care.
In the interim Budget 2020, funding ($21.25m p.a.) has been applied through the current Primary Maternity Services Notice in uplifted rural and third-trimester modules, until replaced by the new Notice on the 29 November 2021.
Officials are currently preparing advice regarding the $60m committed to support the delivery of Health and Disability Review reforms. To date over $21.5m has been spent through the Maternity Action Plan. Initiatives include the commitment to the sustainability of the midwifery workforce. This will be through Te ara o Hine, which supports Pasifika and M?ori Midwifery undergraduate students to complete their studies with additional pastoral and cultural care, financial assistance and the use of Clinical Midwifery Coaches in district health boards (DHBs) to support new graduates, return to practice midwives currently not actively working as midwives, and midwives working in a hospital setting.
This includes funding invested in the Maternity Quality and Safety Programme, the National Breastfeeding Strategy has been updated and new National Guidance for the Assessment, Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Tongue-Tie in Breastfeeding Neonates has been published.
Other programmes of work currently underway under the Maternity Action Plan include the Triennial survey, the Maternal Fetal Medicine Action Plan and a review and refresh of the National Maternity Clinical Guidelines. Strengthening maternity service provision and the midwifery workforce is part of supporting improved maternal mental health outcomes. Midwives are an important part of the continuum of care and are able to identify early signs of maternal mental health
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