Maternity quality and safety programme launched

  • Tony Ryall
Health

Health Minister Tony Ryall says the Government is delivering on its plan to improve maternity services in New Zealand.

Mr Ryall has announced that two years of work on a new maternity quality and safety programme is coming to fruition. This includes a rebuilt information system going live this weekend to better record and monitor antenatal, birth and postnatal care for mothers and babies.

"Today we are launching the key parts of the new maternity quality and safety programme. This includes new maternity standards, revised referral guidelines for midwives and doctors, and a set of clinical Indicators. DHBs are required to implement these improvements forthwith.

“People want better communication, teamwork and care for parents and babies. The objective is better care and greater safety.

“The quality and safety programme has been developed and agreed by representatives from midwifery, obstetrics, anesthesia, general practice, paediatrics and consumers over the past two years.

“To get all these groups on the same page is a significant achievement showing a new era of cooperation and commitment by maternity professionals. And I thank them for that.

"This Government has put significant resources into improving care for new parents and their babies. In our first Budget, we committed more than $103 million over four years to improve maternity services, and this year we committed an extra $33 million to this area.

This includes $2 million to continue improving the comprehensive collection of maternity data as part of the “maternity datamart” beginning this weekend.

A standardised, single set of electronic maternity notes for each pregnant woman is also under development. This will mean full information is available to all health professionals caring for a pregnant woman.

Maternity quality and safety programme documents can be found at:
http://www.moh.govt.nz
 

Budget 2011 funding for maternity services:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/budget-2011-545m-extra-mothers-babies