Re: [ozmidwifery] Fw: PI Insurance - urgent - more interested midwives needed

[Lisa Barrett]

Hi there Jo,   For the homebirth movement to move forward here we need to dispel the fear that women have surrounding birth, no amount of insurance can do that.   I don't think that because they are the only company offering insurance at the moment that is the main consideration at all.  Would you buy rotten fruit if it was all that was on offer ( not comparing rotten fruit with the offer at all you understand).   At the uni of SA student's can attend homebirths in fact I had a birth this week with a student attending.  How is it that they are able to and others eg in South Aus Flinders Uni can't.  Maybe it has more to do with politics of birth than insurance.   I am doing my best along with other independent's in this state to raise the profile of birth, insurance is not the only way to do this.   I do get fed up when on the odd occasion I have been with a woman birthing at the hospital at the attitude of some (by no means all) but catching the baby isn't the be all and end all of my job.  Getting the woman the birth she desires is way more important and if that means advocating from the side line I swallow my pride and get on with it.   All that said I would love as much as everyone else to have insurance as a rod to help me.  But it has to be right and open discussion is really important even before we blindly sign up to anything.   Thanks for your input Lisa   ----- Original Message ----- From: jo To: ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 10:48 AM Subject: RE: [ozmidwifery] Fw: PI Insurance - urgent - more interested midwives needed Hi all,   Although not a midwife yet I attended the Sydney meeting with members of ASIM as an HBA rep. The offer to me sounded good in that you are only paying insurance for the actual births you attend. It’s not just a 1 off fee. Therefore if you are a hosp mw who’d like to do a few hb’s a year you only pay insurance for those few you attend and if you are a full time city based hb midwife attended 30 births a year – that’s what you pay for.   The other issue to consider is that this is the only company who are willing to offer insurance to mw’s, there has been a lot of work done on this issue over the past 5 years and no other insurance company has been willing to come to the party. In order for homebirth to move fwd both for mw’s and women in Aus we need to secure insurance – then perhaps the student mw’s may get rights to accompany IPM’s to hb’s, hb mw’s may get rights in hosp to continue their care of the woman should a transfer become necessary, Publicly Funded hb may become a real option for women and it can only be a positive step in terms of raising the profile of IPM’s.   I suggest any mw who would like to raise the profile of the profession and help to make hb a real choice for Australian women register their interest and once the 200 are on a list discussions can begin on how it will all work.   Warm regards Jo Hunter National Convenor HBA HAS Coordinator Innate Birth CBE and doula   From: owner-ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au [mailto:owner-ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au] On Behalf Of Lisa Barrett Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2006 8:25 AM To: ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Fw: PI Insurance - urgent - more interested midwives needed   Hi Everyone,   I'm interested to know everyone's thoughts on the PI.  I work solely as an independent and I must be honest I don't think this offer is great.  We shouldn't rush into anything just because we think PI gives us credibility.  I haven't really seen any huge discussion on this anywhere.  Has there been a gathering of Independent's that I missed to go into detail on this offer or even what we want and expect from our insurance?  We don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot yet again in our eagerness to portray ourselves as professionals.    Lisa Barrett ----- Original Message -----     From: Andrea Bilcliff To: Ozmidwifery Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 6:48 PM Subject: [ozmidwifery] Fw: PI Insurance - urgent - more interested midwives needed   FYI...   ----- Original Message ----- From: Robyn Thompson   Please forward this on to as many midwives as possible.   It would be great if more colleagues could contact Dr Barb Vernon, Executive Officer, ACMI as soon as possible to add your names to the list for PI Insurance.  We need 200 before we can start the process, so far there are 90.   Let’s get the PI rolling for the greater good of our profession   Warm regards,  Robyn       [EMAIL PROTECTED]