Midwife

The New Zealand Maternity System

New Zealand has a unique maternity care system which provides every woman with free care in pregnancy, childbirth and postnatally by a named Lead Maternity Carer (LMC). In Gisborne all LMC's are midwives.

Please see the article on the portal homepage for information on midwifery care in New Zealand - written by the Midwife Educator Sandra Walsh.

Maternity Unit Overview

The Gisborne Maternity Unit is a 10-year-old facility, attached to the main hospital. It consists of 5 birthing rooms - a labour/birth pool room/active birth room; 8 post/antenatal rooms; and a level 1 Neonatal Unit (staffed separately). We cater for approximately 730 births per year. We are a Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) accredited unit.

STAFFING

We have a mix of staff employed to work in the unit, including midwives, registered obstetric nurses, a maternity aid 5 days a week, a midwifery educator who facilitates the education and professional development needs of the staff and Lead Maternity Carers (LMC's), and a Midwife Unit Manager.

The Core staff work 8 or 12 hour shifts. We aim to provide 2 midwives every duty and a nurse/new graduate midwife morning and afternoon.

We currently have 4 obstetricians and 5 paediatricians on staff. We do not have registrars or house surgeons working in the maternity unit.

All women coming into the unit should have a midwife as their LMC. We do not have any general practitioners or obstetricians providing LMC care in Gisborne.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CORE MIDWIVES INCLUDE:

• Taking the shift co-ordinator role
• Preceptorship of student midwives, mentoring of new graduates, and overseas midwives
• Providing care to antenatal inpatients in liaison with the specialist obstetrician
• Assistance to the LMC's and their clients in the delivery suite, e.g. second midwife at the birth, helping in emergency situations such as emergency caesarean sections, neonatal resuscitation, postpartum haemorrhage, etc
• Secondary care to women where required, including inductions of labour, syntocinon infusions, and epidural management
• Midwifery care to labouring women not booked with an LMC, or who have transferred from the primary birthing unit at Te Puia Springs
• Going to theatre with women needing a caesarean section, to receive, assess and resuscitate as required the baby at birth, and assist with skin-to-skin and breast feeding in theatre and recovery
• Promotion and support for breastfeeding in line with BFHI
• Postnatal care of women and their babies

Being a smaller unit, all the staff and LMC's know and respect each other, working collegially to support the woman and her family as they use our services. For more information go to www.nzmidwives.com

Education for Midwives

The Midwife Educator post at TDH is currently vacant, contact Anna Vita, Midwife Unit Manager, for details: 06 869 0500 extension 8024 or 8414. The postholder usually facilitates the provision of education for midwives working as both employed and self-employed midwives in the Gisborne region.

The BFHI Education co-ordinator position is currently vacant, but you can contact Anna Vita, Midwife Unit Manager for details Anna.Vita@tdh.org.nz  .

All midwives must actively participate, and be able to show evidence of involvement in, the Midwifery Council Recertification Programme. This includes:

• An annual signed declaration of competence to practice within the Midwifery Scope of Practice and engagement in the Recertification Programme;
• Demonstrate competence across all areas of Scope by practise in each of its areas, for instance by case loading, by rotation through areas or by some other mechanism;
• Maintain a professional portfolio collecting information about practice, ongoing education, professional activities and brief personal reflections on each;
• Completes compulsory education delivered by approved providers including adult and neonatal resuscitation annually, two days Technical Skills Workshops and a breastfeeding workshop every three years;
• Completes total of 50 points of elective education and professional activity including elective continuing education from approved courses to minimum of 15 points, and professional activities to a minimum of 15 points, and an additional 20 points from either elective education or professional activity or from a combination of both;
• Undertakes NZCOM Midwifery Standards Review every two years which includes: presenting and discussing their portfolio; discussing outcome data from their caseload or unit statistics; collecting and discussing consumer/client/colleague feedback; self-assessment against the Competencies for Entry to the Register of Midwives; establishing a Personal Development Plan for the following three years.