The temporary closure of Queen Mary maternity services at Dunedin Hospital is further evidence of Andrew Little being prepared to sacrifice health services over bureaucracy for his precious health system restructuring, says National’s Health Spokesperson Dr Shane Reti.

“The Minister needs to explain ministerial answers showing $60M of maternity action plan funding being put aside for health system restructuring.

“That $60M was important for core maternity services not health system restructuring and would go a long way to address concerns around midwifery capacity and conditions.

“It’s no wonder the health system is burnt out after 5 years of a Labour Government yet some of this could have been recently avoided if the $500M and funding for 20 Ernst Young consultants in Wellington to empire build a restructured health system had instead been used to build ICU capacity and increase the health workforce.

Unfortunately Andrew Little is trying to use a Covid crisis to justify health restructuring over health services, form over function, and property over people.  This has all been cruelly exposed at Queen Mary Maternity Hospital in Dunedin and midwifery at large who now join 100,000 delayed procedures and 30,000 people waiting more than 4 months to see a specialist as testament to Labour’s failing health system restructuring.”

Reply 30042 (2021)

Question: What initiatives from the Government's maternity action plan and budget 2020 funding, has $180m been spent on, and how much of that is directly on maternal mental health?

Reply: The $180 million committed in the Government’s Budget 2020 for maternity was allocated as follows: $85m over 4 years was invested in the Primary Maternity Services Notice to support primary maternity services in the community, $35m over 4 years was invested to support and stabilise the wider maternity sector through the Maternity Action Plan and $60m over 4 years was committed to support the Health and Disability Review reforms. I announced the new Primary Maternity Services Notice 2021 (the Notice) on 30 June 2021, which will go live on 29 November 2021. New modules within the New Notice focus on delivery of Budget 2020 funding for rural and social/clinical complex care. In the interim Budget 2020, funding ($21.25m p.a.) has been applied through the current Primary Maternity Services Notice in uplifted rural and third trimester modules, until replaced by the new Notice on the 29 November 2021. Officials are currently preparing advice regarding the $60m committed to support the delivery of Health and Disability Review reforms. To date over $21.5m has been spent through the Maternity Action Plan. Initiatives include the commitment to the sustainability of the midwifery workforce. This will be through Te ara o Hine, which supports Pasifika and Māori Midwifery undergraduate students to complete their studies with additional pastoral and cultural care, financial assistance and the use of Clinical Midwifery Coaches in district health boards (DHBs) to support new graduates, return to practice midwives currently not actively working as midwives, and midwives working in a hospital setting. This includes funding invested in the Maternity Quality and Safety Programme, the National Breastfeeding Strategy has been updated and new National Guidance for the Assessment, Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Tongue-Tie in Breastfeeding Neonates has been published. Other programmes of work currently underway under the Maternity Action Plan include the Triennial survey, the Maternal Fetal Medicine Action Plan and a review and refresh of the National Maternity Clinical Guidelines. Strengthening maternity service provision and the midwifery workforce is part of supporting improved maternal mental health outcomes. Midwives are an important part of the continuum of care and are able to identify early signs of maternal mental health concerns and can assist people in accessing appropriate services. All evidence indicates that early detection and support are critical to achieving improved maternal mental health outcomes. The Ministry of Health is currently undertaking a stocktake of maternal mental health services at DHBs. A report is expected to be publicly available by the end of 2021.