Last chance to stop private midwifery legislation - please help!!!

[BellyBelly]

Dear all,

If you put in a submission last time, you could probably use the same thing again if you kept it, but basically, now more than ever we need you to write in via email or post, as much or little as you can, to stop this bill in it's tracks, preventing midwives from practising independently, not just at homebirths, but even if you wanted your own private midwife at a hospital birth, to give you someone on your side, providing true continuous care. The bill is anti-competitive, takes away choices from women and is socially irresponsible.

This is possibly our LAST CHANCE to influence the legislation. Submissions are due by 11th December, 2009. We can NOT let doctors decide which midwives (if any) are able to register and provide homebirth services. Access to insurance & the right to practice can not be determined by doctors who have a vested interest in...

Please check out the details here: Parliament of Australia: Senate: Committees: Community Affairs: Inquiry into Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 and two related Bills

PLEASE KEEP BUMPED!!!!

[onthefly]

Do we just email to the address on that page you linked to?

[Jess]

I submitted to the first inquiry. This time I have sent an email direct to the office of Minister Roxon; do you think this is likely to help as well? (Wondering what I should suggest to my similarly concerned friends...)

[Cassius2]

can i ask what (generally speaking) did you write for the submission? Is there some kind of template, or do we go free bat with it?

Just wondering on how others did the format etc...

TIA!

[BellyBelly]

Its completely freestyle... even a quick email is better than nothing. You don't have to be an expert or birth guru... just a concerned consumer is enough, and probably most important at this point in time, because consumers vote and have their own interests in heart... seems more biased coming from someone in the industry I urge everyone to at least send a quick email of opposition of these proposed changes, and let them know women deserve the choice of who they care for, without the undermining of doctors who have their own interests at heart.

JESS: No it needs to be sent to this submission - its an enquiry so instead of being ignored by Nicola, the panel on the enquiry get to ask whats going on and why these issues arent being addressed. Dont get me wrong, writing to Nicola is great too, but we cannot substitute it for enquiries.

[BellyBelly]

Okay found some info to help give you all tips:

Dear supporters of birthing choice for women,

As most of you will be aware the Government has sought to amend the midwifery legislation before Parliament to force independent midwives to have “collaborative arrangements” with doctors before they are able to register and be eligible for Medicare and insurance support. The Australian Medical Association pushed heavily for this amendment. If the amendment goes ahead midwifery as we know it will be changed forever. This applies to any birth choice that might be provided through an self employed or private practice midwife. It means that it will be impossible to get true midwife-led care in Australia.

The good news is that the Greens have succeeded in referring the amendments to a senate inquiry. This provides an opportunity for the amendments to be closely scrutinised. The challenging news is that submissions to the inquiry are due by 11 December 2009. We know that this is a crazy time of the year and the deadline is a very tight one. However it is essential that we get as many submissions as possible to the inquiry. We need to equal (or preferably greatly exceed) the record number of submissions we made to the earlier senate inquiry. We must show the government that we are not giving up. We are asking you to make your own submission and to consider asking your partner, friends and family members to also write a submission. At the last inquiry over 2000 submissions were received. Let’s break this record! The senate prefers to receive submissions electronically as an attachment – community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au – otherwise by fax (02 6277 5829). Maternity Coalition would also welcome receiving a copy of your submission so we can use examples when presenting at the senate. Contact us at campaign@maternitycoalition.org.au

Please consider doing this, it is vitally important for the future of our choices in maternity care.

What do I write?

Some general points to raise are:

The amendments remove choice for women and will make it impossible for a woman to choose private practice midwife led care in Australia.
The amendments put doctors rather than women at the centre of maternity care.
The amendment puts the ability of midwives to practice in the hands of doctors rather than an independent registration and licensing body.
The AMA and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists do not support homebirth and it is unrealistic to expect that members of these organisations will readily enter into collaborative arrangements with midwives providing women with this choice;
The amendments will have a greater impact on women living in rural areas.
Ask that a woman’s right to choose self employed midwives for maternity care be respected and not restricted as a result of the amendment.
What sort of care (public, private, midwifery) did you choose for your pregnancy, labour, birth and postnatal care? Why did you choose this type of care?
Did you feel your choices were respected when interacting with doctors, midwives, hospitals?
Who should control your ability to access Medicare rebates for midwifery care?
What has good collaboration between doctors and midwives meant to you?
Your submission does not have to be long; it just needs to illustrate your personal views and experiences.

Telling your individual story is the most important thing you can do. Demonstrate that private practice midwives are trained and competent caregivers who should not be under the control of doctors. Show just what happens when doctors are in control of pregnancy and birth.

If you have experienced independent midwifery care – Detail why you chose a midwife for your care and provide an overview of the care you have received. Discuss how your midwife worked with other medical professionals during your pregnancy and birth (positive stories about what midwives are already doing are important as are those that show the failure of doctors to willingly collaborate with midwives). If you have struggled to find supportive GPs or faced resistance from other medical professionals you should share this (as it goes to the heart of whether the amended legislation is workable). Highlight the differences between your pregnancies and births if you have used different models of care.

You can find the terms of reference for the inquiry and copies of the Bills here:
Parliament of Australia: Senate: Committees: Community Affairs: Inquiry into Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 and two related Bills

Please find below two documents that may help you further. The MC briefing paper on the problems arising from the Government’s amendments and a document that helps you get started with the formalities for making a submission so that you can just get on with the writing.

Thank you for your support,
Regards,

Lisa Metcalfe
President
Maternity Coalition
http://www.maternitycoalition.org.au

[Cassius2]

ah ok thanks kelly. i'll do that now. i was so disturbed by the latest newspaper article with Andrew Pesce that i feel something needs to be done.

[Cassius2]

Ok! all done!!

ended up being quite an epic .

[BellyBelly]

Awesome! Starting can be overwhelming, but once you get going it's amazing how much you feel you need to get out. I think many of us have feelings deep inside that we may or may not know about, which would be great for tapping into by doing this...

[skeetaboat]

Are submissions to the inquiry public? If so, can you do a confidential submission?

[BellyBelly]

Yes you can asked to be anonymous/do not publish I believe.

[Cassius2]

yeah skeeta if you go to the link kelly gave and then click on 'how to make a submission' there is a section that talks about how to make a confidential one...HTH!

[Tanya]

Done....

[Julie Doula]

I just got on to mine today .... it's almost ready to send off.

This is our last week to email all our friends and rellos, and get them emailing the committee. Even if they simply add their contact details, it counts as one vote. But if they add their own views and comments, in lobbying terms it's like 100 votes.

If you would like an email with pro forma letter attached (as provided by Maternity Coalition), just pm me your email address and I'll send it to you - easy to forward on to everyone in your contacts.

[Hannahbanana]

I have just done mine today........better last minute than never!!

[onthefly]

OK!
Mine was also last minute...

[Julie Doula]

Just sent the Maternity Coalition info out to two more people who didn't know about it but were incensed when they heard. Better last minute than never!