Minister Orders Maternity Review

Health Minister Bill English said today he was ordering a review of maternity services which would look at whether services were high quality and meeting the needs of women.

"The National Health Committee will carry out the review, with committee member and broadcaster Maggie Barry as chair.

"The review will focus on the quality of the public maternity service and whether women are satisfied with the service, including the choices available to them.

"Maternity services have been a difficult and contentious issue for a number of years now. The debate has largely been between general practitioners on the one hand and midwives on the other. It is time we asked women what they think about the services available to them.

"Late last year there were an increasing number of reports about problems with maternity services, in particular reports of the number of GPs giving up delivering babies.

"This review will address all those issues. The Terms of Reference are being finalised now and will be announced shortly," said Mr English.