Re: [ozmidwifery] Review of Maternity Unit

[Ms Elizabeth McCall]

Lisa, Could send you a copy of the Review data if you want - send me you slow mail address. I'm on the Far North coast of NSW - Byron Bay specifically. Small low risk unit here - however referral hospitals etc were reviewed as well. Reviewers requested submissions - I wrote one for our hospital & for our sub branch of the NSWMA (ACMI). Anyone who wrote a submission got a personal interview. All health facilities providing maternity services had a combined interview with relevant staff. Surveys were done of clients. The Reviwe Committee brief was wide ranging. Previous to that there had been a threat to our small low risk unit - however again I wrote a submission and got the community on side - petitions, meetings etc. - we were successful in our retention of maternity services. Our HS is one of the few that do not have a CMC position - however that is about to be redressed - interviews for a new CMC Area position are soon. The far North Coast Midwives were instrumental in pushing for the position and this was supported by the Review team's findings. So...get busy on a submission quoting all the relevant Gov. docs. etc and make sure all the midwives are aware of the issues. Good luck Liz McCall  ----- Original Message ----- From: ljg To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 2:22 PM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Review of Maternity Unit Liz Would love to hear more -our unit is being independently reviewed by a midwife and obs (love the consumer thing!) and is being done because of some downfalls in clinical indicators and an increase in client complaints. As midwives, we are viewing this as very positive because our unit has become more and more medically oriented much to the disillusionment of the midwifery staff. So we see this as an avenue for change ! We are told that we will be able to meet with the reviewers individually or as groups and that they will be looking at all aspects of maternity care. Which state are you in Liz, couldn't possibly be Qld, couldn't imagine our big wigs supporting consumer involvement (!) How did the midwives in your unit go about informing the reviewers of there views ? Would love to hear all about it, we need all the help we can get to make this work for our unit !!!! lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: Ms Elizabeth McCall To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 9:11 AM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Review of Maternity Unit We had a review of all the maternity units in our HS as part of a maternity services review and subsequent design of a maternity services plan - yet to be implemented I might add. We had an independent review team - 1 midwife, 1 Ob/Gyn, 1 GP Ob/Gyn & 1 consumer rep. Amazing results by the way all supporting increased involvement of midwives. Happy to share more info. if you want it. Liz McCall ----- Original Message ----- From: ljg To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 8:31 AM Subject: [ozmidwifery] Review of Maternity Unit Dear List Am keen to hear from anyone who has been  through an external review of their maternity unit. Am looking  for tips on the best way to deal with this and use it as an opportunity to get conerns across, as midwives. Feel free to email me offlist at [EMAIL PROTECTED] lisa g