10 July 2008 Media Statement

Shanks plays politics with midwife figures

Katrina Shanks has again demonstrated that the National Party would rather spend time trying to score cheap political points than developing a sound health policy, Associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick says.

“Shanks’ outcry over eight midwife vacancies at Canterbury DHB is disingenuous, when the reality is that 150 midwives currently ensure that Canterbury women continue to receive high-quality maternity care,” Steve Chadwick says.

“The DHB has reassured mothers and their families that this small number of vacancies is not compromising the maternity care that they provide.

“Once again we see National covering-up for their lack of policy with flimsy attempts to gain political mileage rather providing solutions.

“If this is the best that National can do, it’s no wonder that nearly a year after promising to deliver a policy on maternity they still haven’t bothered.”

ENDS

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