Midwifery in NSW
Midwives Work In: | Midwifery in NaMO | Anne Robertson: Principal Advisor Midwifery | Julie Mate: Midwifery Project Manager, Birthrate Plus® | Tessa Capsanis: Project Officer Rural Midwifery Education | Annualised Salary Package Agreement | Birthrate Plus® | Breastfeeding | Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI) | NSW State-wide Breastfeeding & Infant Nutrition Reference Group | Centralised Application for Postgraduate Student Midwives | Maternity Emergency Guidelines for Registered Nurses | Midwifery Refresher Package | Midwifery Practice Review MPR | Midwifery Connect | National RegistrationA midwife is in the privileged position of sharing the journey of a woman and her family from pregnancy to parenthood. Being involved in the birth of a new life is just one of the great rewards of this career choice. Midwifery is an exciting and evolving profession in the health care sector and has much to offer.
A Midwife:
- Has acquired the appropriate qualifications to be registered to practice midwifery
- Gives supervision, care and advice to women during pregnancy, labour, birth and the postnatal period
- Cares for the newborn infant
- Is trained in the birthing process and will deal capably with any adverse situations, including seeking medical assistance when required
- Will commence emergency procedures in the absence of medical help
- Educates and provides health counselling for the woman, family and community
Midwives Work In:
- Maternity units in Public and Private hospitals
- Antenatal clinics
- Labour/birth suites
- Postnatal and Neonatal units
- Community based health services
- Universities (as midwives, teachers and researchers)
- Childbirth and parent education classes
- Birth centres
- In practice with obstetricians
Midwifery in NaMO
There are currently 3 seconded Midwifery positions in NaMO supporting the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer:
Anne Robertson: Principal Advisor Midwifery
Anne’s work entails:
- Providing strategic policy advice on midwifery, maternity and child and family health matters
- Leading, co-ordinating and developing public policy in relation to midwifery and child and family health issues
- Leading and managing teams of NSW Health staff and key external stakeholders in the design, development and implementation of statewide projects in the areas of midwifery, maternity and child and family health
- Providing expert guidance and clinical advice to the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer (CNMO), the Ministry and Government on issues relating to midwifery, maternity and child and family health services.
Julie Mate: Midwifery Project Manager, Birthrate Plus®
Julie, working closely with Birthrate Plus® Co-director Mrs Marie Washbrook in the United Kingdom, is leading the Birthrate Plus® Project across 20 maternity services in NSW.
Tessa Capsanis: Project Officer Rural Midwifery Education
Tessa works closely with the Principal Adviser Midwifery to implement and evaluate a range of educational strategies to support and enhance the rural midwifery workforce across NSW.
Educational strategies such as scholarships to support attendance to courses, facilitation of workshops and courses across rural NSW, as well as exploration of other methods of training such as e learning packages.
Annualised Salary Package Agreement
On 21 December 2007 the NSW Nurses' Association and the NSW Ministry of Health reached agreement on a Model Midwifery Caseload Practice Annualised Salary Arrangement.
Birthrate Plus®
The Birthrate Plus® methodology was developed in 1986 for maternity services in the United Kingdom (UK) and is used extensive across the UK and Ireland. Birthrate Plus® provides a framework for service planning and commissioning, exploring models of maternity care, informing recruitment and retention strategies and identifying baselines for maternity staffing based upon the principles of assessing the needs of women for midwifery care.
NSW Health is working closely in collaboration with the New South Wales Nurses Association and the authors of Birthrate Plus® to assess the suitability of this model for application in NSW maternity services.
Breastfeeding
NSW Health Policy Directive- PD2006_012 Breastfeeding in NSW: Promotion, Protection and Support is the first comprehensive breastfeeding policy for NSW Health and demonstrates our commitment towards improved population breastfeeding practices and guide action.
Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI)
The Nursing and Midwifery Office has representation on the NSW BFHI Committee which was established to protect, promote and support the objectives of BFHI Australia within NSW ensuring consistency and quality commensurate with the National Standards and International benchmarks.
NSW State-wide Breastfeeding & Infant Nutrition Reference Group
The Nursing and Midwifery Office facilitates the quarterly meetings of the Reference Group at NSW Health to assist the Area Health Services implementation of PD2006_12 and be available as a resource to NSW Health for the consultation and review of documents relating to breastfeeding /infant feeding prior to dissemination to the Area Health Services.
The Reference Group has representation from NSW Health, Area Health Services, Baby Friendly Health Initiative NSW, Midwifery and Neonatal Professional Bodies and the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
Breastfeeding Resources
Centralised Application for Postgraduate Student Midwives
Maternity Emergency Guidelines for Registered Nurses
Maternity emergency guidelines were developed for registered nurses who are not also registered midwives, but who may be faced with a maternity emergency in rural/remote areas.
These guidelines have been distributed to all Area Health Services in NSW. Copies can be obtained from the Australian College of Midwives NSW Branch or telephone (02) 9281 9522.
Midwifery Refresher Package
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Refreshing Midwives is not a formal midwifery refresher course. |
In 2009 the Australian College of Midwives NSW Branch updated their self-directed learning package with funding support from the Nursing and Midwifery Office.
Refreshing Midwives: Education for Practice (2nd edition) is a self directed learning package to assist:
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Currently practicing midwives to review their current midwifery confidence and competence, or
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Midwives who have been out of practice and are wishing to return.
Refreshing Midwives uses clinical practice scenarios and self reflective exercises to address each of the four domains of the ANMC National Competency Standards for the Midwife. Set out in Modules, each Module begins with an overview of the key elements related to the topic. Different ‘search and find’ activities have been designed to expand on the elements being presented. You will be challenged to reflect on your own specific clinical practice setting and explore any differences you find between the key topic elements and your current midwifery work. A summary of the key learning points lead you to the final Module section containing further reading and reference resources.
Refreshing Midwives: Education for Practice (2nd edition) is now available from NaMO free of charge for NSW Health employees. By completing the online form below you will be sent a CD copy.
NSW Health employees please click here for the application.
For non NSW Health employees copies can be obtained from the Australian College of Midwives NSW Branch or telephone (02) 9281 9522.
Midwifery Practice Review MPR
In 2007 the Australian College of Midwives launched Midwifery Practice Review (MPR), a professional development process for midwives in Australia. MPR is designed to encourage and assist midwives to reflect on their practice and their professional development needs and goals with the help of peers and consumers.
In NSW the Credentialling process has been replaced by MPR as the mechanism for midwives to demonstrate their competence and capability to practise in midwifery managed continuity of care models as mandated in
NSW Health Policy Directive - Credentialling Framework
Midwifery Connect
Midwifery Connect was established in November 2007 designed to address the issue of the workforce shortage in rural and remote areas of NSW by attracting midwives back into the profession. Midwifery Connect has now been expanded to include all maternity services in NSW.
Midwifery Connect is not a refresher course. It is a way to attract registered midwives back into the midwifery workforce by providing four weeks of orientation and one-on-one preceptor support.
To be eligible for Midwifery Connect you must be:
- A registered midwife in NSW currently out of the workforce or
- A registered midwife in NSW currently working as a registered nurse and wishing to return to midwifery.
To register for Midwifery Connect call the Re-Connect toll free number on 1800 330 933.
Your details will be recorded and forwarded to your nominated Area Health Service (AHS) for follow-up. You will be contacted by a representative of the AHS which may take up to four to five weeks.
National Registration
Policy Directives
Professional Organisations
Rural Midwifery
A 4 year election commitment package of $2.5 million for training scholarships for existing rural midwives in NSW was released in 2007. The Nursing and Midwifery Office have been working with the rural Area Health Services to plan and provide a wide range of education initiatives for the midwives in rural NSW. Included in this funding package is scholarship support for undergraduate midwifery students and student midwives undertaking a postgraduate qualification in midwifery from communities across rural NSW.
Scholarships
