Midwifery Services
Midwifery Practice Review MPR | Midwifery Connect | Refresher courses | Public homebirth services | Maternity Emergency Guidelines for Registered Nurses | Guidelines to manage drug use | Breastfeeding | ScholarshipsMidwifery is an exciting and evolving profession in the health care sector. Midwives provide specialist care, education, advice and support to women throughout their pregnancy, during childbirth and into the early weeks after the baby is born.
Workforce issues
Annualised Salary Package Agreement
On 21 December 2007 the NSW Nurses' Association and the NSW Department of Health reached agreement on a Model Midwifery Caseload Practice Annualised Salary Arrangement.
Midwifery workforce working group
In October 2005 the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer NSW convened a forum on the midwifery workforce. From this a working group was formed to review the midwifery workforce.
Birthrate Plus
Birthrate Plus is a UK workforce planning tool currently being piloted in NSW. It uses retrospective data to inform service planning and commissioning, explore models of maternity care, inform recruitment and retention strategies and identify baselines for maternity staffing. Recommendations from phase one of the Birthrate Plus pilot have gone to the state-wide Steering Committee for Reasonable Workloads for consideration.
Midwifery Practice Review MPR
Midwifery Practice Review is the formal process used to verify and evaluate the qualfications and experience of health care professionals for the purposes of forming an opinion about their training, skills, experience and competence.
In NSW MPR is proposed as a mechanism for midwives to demonstrate their competence and capability to practise in midwifery managed continuity of care models.
More Info:
Midwives - NSW Health - Credentialling FrameworkMidwifery Connect
Midwifery Connect compliments the general nursing Re-Connect initiative.
Midwifery Connect is not a course or a program. It is a method of assisting and supporting midwives to re-enter the workforce. The NSW Department of Health provides three weeks salary to the employing hospital and $600 for clinical support for the midwife. Hospitals are expected to provide additional orientation and support for the midwife in their initial period of employment.
Connect places you in contact with an Area Health Service so that they may consider you for employment in a NSW public hospital if there is a suitable vacancy. Employment is subject to a suitable vacancy being available and applicants meeting all of the required employment criteria including immunisation, criminal record clearance and current nurses/midwives registration.
If you are eligible for Connect with the public health workforce, you will be employed and paid when you return to the public sector.
Salary information as of July 2008.
What Midwifery Connect Offer?
Midwifery Connect offers:
- individualised and supported re-entry to the public sector workforce
- paid re-entry into an existing vacancy
- full-time and part-time employment in midwifery.
Requirements
Your level of experience does not affect your participation in Connect as the process is tailored to suit your individual needs.
Bring Nurses Back into the Workforce (BNBW)
You may also be eligible for a Commonwealth Government cash bonus when you come back to work in a public or private hospital, community setting or residential aged care facility. If you started work on or after 15 January 2008 and meet the eligibility criteria you may qualify for the bonus payments.
>> Bringing Nurses Back into the Workforce program details.
BNBW payments will be processed in batches once all of the criteria are meet including the completion of the required Stat Dec - see Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging above.
To register for Midwifery Connect telephone 1800 330 933 (toll free).
Refresher courses
Midwifery refresher courses are available from NSW Midwives Association and The College of Nursing.
Public homebirth services
NSW Health recognises that the place of birth is a decision for women and their families and that a small number of women will choose to birth at home. We recommend that Area Health Services in NSW make arrangements to provide a range of models of care. This may include public homebirth services.
Public homebirth services, when provided, must comply with the standards set out in the NSW Health Policy Directive: Maternity - Public Homebirth Services.
Maternity Emergency Guidelines for Registered Nurses
Maternity emergency guidelines are for registered nurses not authorised to practice midwifery, but who are 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 NSW Midwives Assocation or telephone +61 2 9281 9522.
Guidelines to manage drug use
The National Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Drug Use During Pregnancy, Birth and the Early Development Years of the Newborn are intended to support a range of health care workers who care for women with drug and alcohol use issues, and their infants and families. The Guidelines have been developed through a process based on evidence reviews and expert consensus. The drugs covered include: opioids, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine, benzodiazepines, inhalants.
Breastfeeding
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.
Scholarships
The NSW Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship Fund offers postgraduate scholarships to support the recruitment and retention of nurses and midwives within the NSW public health system.
This web page is managed and authorised by Nursing & Midwifery Office of the NSW Department of Health. Last updated: 31 March, 2009