missie_mack
10-08-2008, 16:34
In the Mercury 17/06/2008 Page 9
Red tape ties up home-birthing Service
BY ANGELA THOMPSON
The Sydney home birthing service which will be replicated in the Illawarra resulted in just 23 at home deliveries in its first 18 months of operation. Another 17 women who wanted to use the service were transferred to the hospital birthing centre during or before labour. Those in favour of the service say it is cheaper than providing hospital beds, gives women a choice and saves the cost of employing a private midwife.
But an independent Illawarra midwife says the stipulations that will be attached to a publicly funded home birthing service mean few are able to take advantage of it. Of the 4O women who booked for a home birth through the St George Birthing Centre between September 2005 and May 2007, 14 were transferred during the antenatal period and another three were transferred due to slow progress in the first stage of labour.
Illawarra midwife Mane Heath, who delivers more than 30 babies at home each year through her private practice, Midwyf Services, said the cancellation rate was too high,
'Publicly funded programs are very strict and often exclude women that would otherwise have been able to achieve a home birth by a private practitioner," she said. 'Why would you be looking at 14 out 40 being excluded? There's no way my rates would be anything near that"
Health Minister Reba Meagher announced an Illawarra service modelled on St George on the same day midwives learnt the post natal ward at Shellharbour Hospital was to close. The midwives have yet to receive details of the role they will play in the service, but according to St George project midwife Shea Caplice, it worked best when it was incorporated into the workloads of six midwives, but could operate with four.
Ms Caplice said home birthing "should be” an option for 70 per cent of women, but under the public system mew births were classified as high risk and therefore could not occur at home. Numbers were also down as a result of a lack of trust in the home birth method; something Ms Caplice hoped would soon be remedied.
"Home birth created great poles of opinion across the country, but in the Netherlands 30 per cent of all births are at home” She said. "It's relatively new so we don’t have the public trust yet, but the evaluation was very positive, fine transfers were appropriate and the satisfaction for the women was extremely high." Those who used the public home birthing system would also save the cost (between $3000 and $5000) of a private midwife, Ms Caplice said.
Red tape ties up home-birthing Service
BY ANGELA THOMPSON
The Sydney home birthing service which will be replicated in the Illawarra resulted in just 23 at home deliveries in its first 18 months of operation. Another 17 women who wanted to use the service were transferred to the hospital birthing centre during or before labour. Those in favour of the service say it is cheaper than providing hospital beds, gives women a choice and saves the cost of employing a private midwife.
But an independent Illawarra midwife says the stipulations that will be attached to a publicly funded home birthing service mean few are able to take advantage of it. Of the 4O women who booked for a home birth through the St George Birthing Centre between September 2005 and May 2007, 14 were transferred during the antenatal period and another three were transferred due to slow progress in the first stage of labour.
Illawarra midwife Mane Heath, who delivers more than 30 babies at home each year through her private practice, Midwyf Services, said the cancellation rate was too high,
'Publicly funded programs are very strict and often exclude women that would otherwise have been able to achieve a home birth by a private practitioner," she said. 'Why would you be looking at 14 out 40 being excluded? There's no way my rates would be anything near that"
Health Minister Reba Meagher announced an Illawarra service modelled on St George on the same day midwives learnt the post natal ward at Shellharbour Hospital was to close. The midwives have yet to receive details of the role they will play in the service, but according to St George project midwife Shea Caplice, it worked best when it was incorporated into the workloads of six midwives, but could operate with four.
Ms Caplice said home birthing "should be” an option for 70 per cent of women, but under the public system mew births were classified as high risk and therefore could not occur at home. Numbers were also down as a result of a lack of trust in the home birth method; something Ms Caplice hoped would soon be remedied.
"Home birth created great poles of opinion across the country, but in the Netherlands 30 per cent of all births are at home” She said. "It's relatively new so we don’t have the public trust yet, but the evaluation was very positive, fine transfers were appropriate and the satisfaction for the women was extremely high." Those who used the public home birthing system would also save the cost (between $3000 and $5000) of a private midwife, Ms Caplice said.