Improvement inevitable in the Training of Midwives

22 November 2005

Improvement inevitable in the Training of Midwives says College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) today officially announced its stand on New Zealand’s maternity services, in response to the current release of the Wellington Coroner’s report following the death of two babies.

“It is important for the Maternity Services in New Zealand to be assessed and improved in regards to service delivery. Midwives have provided an excellent service to pregnant women and we have the view that in most cases the service is going well,” said the Chairman of the New Zealand Committee of RANZCOG, Dr Bill Ridley. It is however, time for a mature and thorough examination of the systems in place in New Zealand in 2005.

“RANZCOG is supportive of the midwives’ plans to improve their training and audit process for the entire Maternity Service in New Zealand,” said Dr Ridley today.

RANZCOG believes it is vital to have safe, robust and well integrated primary and secondary maternity care in New Zealand. In some cases, in the implementation of these services, unacceptable risks have been present and the transfer from primary to secondary care has been unsafe.

“It is important when this happens, these events are adequately reviewed and evidence-based data is collected. The new Maternal and Perinatal Mortality Review Committee should ensure that this process becomes mandatory. We would hope this leads to an improvement in our delivery of care to our pregnant women in New Zealand”, said Dr Ridley.

ENDS

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