❓ Ms. Mettam questions the Minister for Health about potential changes to the community midwifery program due to workforce shortages. The Minister acknowledges shortages but outlines efforts to increase midwife numbers.
AnsweredQoN 624Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
COMMUNITY
MIDWIFERY PROGRAM
624. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the email sent last week to mothers intending to
give birth through the community midwifery program that states that due to workforce
shortages, care may be handed to labour ward midwives in the coming months.
(1) How many women in the CMP will have their birth plan
changed due to these shortages?
(2) How many midwives short are we in the state at this
point?
MIDWIFERY PROGRAM
624. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the email sent last week to mothers intending to
give birth through the community midwifery program that states that due to workforce
shortages, care may be handed to labour ward midwives in the coming months.
(1) How many women in the CMP will have their birth plan
changed due to these shortages?
(2) How many midwives short are we in the state at this
point?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2)
I am not familiar with the correspondence that the member refers to; however, I
can say that all health systems are subject to workforce shortages at this
stage, and we are not orphans in that. Every healthcare system across the
nation is struggling to attract workforce because, traditionally, Australian
health systems rely upon overseas-trained doctors and nurses to come in and
fill places that cannot be filled by Australian-trained doctors and nurses. As
the member knows, we are short of midwives both in the private and the public
sector.
The
community midwifery program is a great program that allows mothers to have
continuity of care from midwives right through the birthing process.
Obviously, if there are constraints in relation to workforce shortages, sometimes those particular models of
care cannot always be fulfilled. I can say that since January this year,
we have an extra 15 midwives practising in the system, as well as an expansion
of the current program, which will see a range of midwives taken on. For
instance, 69 undergraduate applications have been received, with 62 of those
being offered, so we are increasing the number of nurse graduates going into the midwifery stream. We are continuing to
attract a number of midwives who have fallen out of their careers, and
we are providing them with refresher courses. There are five granted agreements
in relation to the refresher course.
A lot of work is being undertaken
at the moment to boost the number of midwives in our system. It is a system under strain, and part of that strain is
the constraints we have in our nursing and midwifery workforce, but as
the member can see, we are making significant progress in making sure that we
can increase those numbers so that we can continue to provide the services that
mothers in Western Australia rightly deserve.
I am not familiar with the correspondence that the member refers to; however, I
can say that all health systems are subject to workforce shortages at this
stage, and we are not orphans in that. Every healthcare system across the
nation is struggling to attract workforce because, traditionally, Australian
health systems rely upon overseas-trained doctors and nurses to come in and
fill places that cannot be filled by Australian-trained doctors and nurses. As
the member knows, we are short of midwives both in the private and the public
sector.
The
community midwifery program is a great program that allows mothers to have
continuity of care from midwives right through the birthing process.
Obviously, if there are constraints in relation to workforce shortages, sometimes those particular models of
care cannot always be fulfilled. I can say that since January this year,
we have an extra 15 midwives practising in the system, as well as an expansion
of the current program, which will see a range of midwives taken on. For
instance, 69 undergraduate applications have been received, with 62 of those
being offered, so we are increasing the number of nurse graduates going into the midwifery stream. We are continuing to
attract a number of midwives who have fallen out of their careers, and
we are providing them with refresher courses. There are five granted agreements
in relation to the refresher course.
A lot of work is being undertaken
at the moment to boost the number of midwives in our system. It is a system under strain, and part of that strain is
the constraints we have in our nursing and midwifery workforce, but as
the member can see, we are making significant progress in making sure that we
can increase those numbers so that we can continue to provide the services that
mothers in Western Australia rightly deserve.
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