YOUR COLLEGE
your college maternity guideline reviews Midwifery advisors are representing the College on the steering group for the review of four national maternity guidelines: Guidelines for Consultation with Obstetric and Related Medical Services (Referral Guidelines); Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertension and Pre-eclampsia in Pregnancy in New Zealand; Screening, Diagnosis and Management of Gestational Diabetes in New Zealand; and the National Consensus Guideline for Treatment of Postpartum Haemorrhage. An initial survey on the Referral Guidelines was circulated to members in April and further opportunities for feedback will be provided once a draft of the new guideline is available. Consultations on the other guidelines will follow in due course.
CONTRACEPTION EDUCATION Contraception education standards are being developed by the Ministry and the National Contraception Guidelines Steering Group to reflect New Zealand Aotearoa’s Guidance on Contraception and identify the pre-requisites, programme, and ongoing competence requirements for all health professionals who wish to insert long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). Midwives are represented within this group, and aim to ensure that the education programmes developed can be accessed by midwives and fit their scope of practice. Further information will be provided as this work progresses.
SUBMISSION ON LEADERSHIP MIDCENTRAL The College region and national office has been providing professional support to employed and self-employed midwives in MidCentral DHB at a time of major workforce shortages, including a written submission on the MidCentral leadership change proposal in May.
CLIMATE CHANGE CONSENSUS Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time and requires commitment from individuals, organisations and society
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as a whole, to address. The College has developed a climate change consensus statement which has been circulated through the College midwives portal for feedback. Following this consultation, we are hoping to have this consensus statement ratified at the AGM in November 2021.
ANTI-D PROPHYLAXIS ADMIN DURING PREGNANCY AND EARLY POSTPARTUM Following feedback from member consultation, this statement is being finalised in preparation for ratification. The main points relate to the current NZ Blood recommendations and the need for DHBs to enable provision of the service through appropriate pathways, rather than expecting the community midwifery workforce to provide this without the necessary support/ resources.
pulse oximetry submission The Ministry, along with a multi-disciplinary team which included College representatives, have developed a national guideline for newborn pulse oximetry screening. Pulse oximetry is a simple non-invasive method of measuring hypoxaemia following birth, which may be potentially indicative of critical congenital heart disease, respiratory conditions and other diseases that could have an impact on a baby’s health. Screening has been found to be acceptable to women and their families and reassuring for health professionals. The College has consulted with members through the College portal and has provided a submission on the discussion document. Feedback was generally supportive, but concerns were raised related to education and the funding of equipment and consumables.
PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT PROPOSALS FOR EMPLOYED MIDWIVES The College presented two proposals to the Midwifery Leaders Group and the MERAS NRC for professional networking and support of employed midwives: to set up a national, in-person forum for midwives in shift-based
clinical leadership roles - Associate Charge Midwife Managers (ACMM)/Clinical Midwife Coordinators/Clinical Midwife Managers - and to establish a virtual network of midwives involved in DHB maternity clinical guideline development. Midwifery clinical leadership roles are pivotal to the functioning and culture of day-to-day birthing and maternity facilities, with a high level of responsibility in a relatively isolated position. Discussions with midwives in these roles and the midwifery leadership groups indicated that there is a pressing need for professional support and networking but that it may be logistically difficult to hold an in-person forum. The College has therefore included a workshop for midwives in clinical shift leadership on the importance of their role and as a space to network, at the conference in November. The College is also working on a proposal for Charge Midwife Managers and will progress conversations on a guidelines network as the implications of the health reforms on regional health system structures are made clear.
rural health alliance meeting The College is a member of the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ), an umbrella organisation which advocates for rural health issues. Each year, RHAANZ hosts a RuralFest meeting, where members meet in Wellington to agree on top priorities (day one) which are then presented to key politicians in Parliament (day two). At the 2019 RuralFest, the College’s midwife representatives were successful in achieving consensus with meeting attendees that rural maternity issues should be among the priorities presented – a key contributor in achieving the revised Section 88 rural payments which were announced in last year’s Budget. This year, rural midwives Tawera Trinder (Taranaki) and Kendra Short (South Canterbury) were the College RHAANZ representatives. Tawera and Kendra reported ongoing strong support for rural midwives and maternity services in this multidisciplinary forum. square
