I have to agree Deirdre. One of the huge advantages of homebirth with an independent midwife is that the woman has chosen and employed this particular midwife as her caregiver. The midwife is a guest in the woman's home and is being paid directly from the woman, which in turn places the woman much more in control of what occurs during her birth. Whilst I think it is wonderful that these homebirth models are in the pipeline and it opens the homebirth option up to many more women, it does concern me, as women shouldn't need to go to hospital (ever during pregnancy) to have a homebirth. The midwives who will be working in the model may have little experience of the unique work of a homebirth midwife and I worry that there will be a huge transfer rate the minute something appears slightly out of the ordinary and when we lobby Govts some more for the NMAP, they'll look at the stats of the hospital run homebirth service and say no way, look at their transfer rate. It doesn't mean this is necessarily going to happen, however it is food for thought. Deirdre, if their is a hospital run homebirth service I know for a fact that the majority of (current) homebirthers in NSW will still want to employ an independent midwife, regardless of the cost, to be with them during labour and birth because many believe that they don't want it attached to a hospital system and certainly don't want their births overseen by Obstetricians. As well as those women who are seen as 'high risk' - VBAC, breech etc I assume they wouldn't be permitted to birth at home through a hospital run homebirth service. I believe there needs to be strong consumer input to any model that is set up - lets listen to the women and find out what it is that they want. Jo Hunter
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dierdre Bowman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2002 5:02 AM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] New models of midwifery care > While I think that it is TERRIFIC that homebirth will finally be offered as > a choice. I think that the way midwives are compensated for this work is > important to look at. The system in NZ is somewhat dodgy where payment is > concerned. I would like to see funds made directly available to parent so > that they may choose and fund their own midwife, not one assigned to them or > where couples only have the choice of recieving paid homebirth if they > choose the few midwives set up through these schemes. This has the > potential to damage the livelihood of midwives currently working > independently of the system. > > Any thoughts???????? > > Dierdre B. > > -- > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
