RANZCOG Statement in Response to Health Committee

RANZCOG Statement in Response to Health Committee Report: Petition 2008/23 of Jennifer Maree Hooper

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) welcomes the recommendations to improve aspects of New Zealand’s maternity system that have been made today by the Health Committee in response to a petition led by Jennifer Maree Hooper and her “The Good Fight” group.

The petition, which generated 826 signatures, was referred to Parliament last year urging changes to New Zealand’s maternity system to increase safety and protection for all mothers and babies.

“It is fundamentally important that maternity services are designed to ensure the highest quality care and the best possible outcomes for mothers and babies and we believe these recommendations are a very positive step in the right direction,” says RANZCOG New Zealand Chair, Dr John Tait.

“For some time now we have been advocating the need for greater collaboration between maternity care providers and were pleased to see this top the list of recommendations.”

“We are making very good progress working with midwives and GPs as part of the Ministry of Health’s Maternity Quality Initiative and believe the standards we have developed as a group will lead to a step-change in quality improvements in maternity care. We were heartened to see the Committee recommended vigorous implementation of this initiative.”

The Maternity Quality Initiative includes:
• a safety and quality programme for maternity services,
• new protocols for care and emergency transfers between clinicians,
• the development of nationally standardised maternity notes available electronically, and
• better quality collection of maternal and newborn information and monitoring of maternity services.

“Welcoming a healthy baby into the world should be one of life’s happiest moments, and RANZCOG has welcomed the opportunity to be consulted on these recommendations. We are committed to working closely with other maternity care providers and the Government to continually improve New Zealand’s maternity services and are very pleased with the progress being made to date,” concluded Dr Tait.

ENDS

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