Wanaka Midwives’ Deb Harvey is cautiously optimistic about the $180M funding boost for maternity services and progress on the future of a primary birthing unit. 

Associate health minister Julie Anne Genter shared news of the maternity package on Thursday (July 16), which she said included $85M for rural midwives to recognise the wider range of care they provide, rather than a flat rate per birth as in the past.

“Previously, midwives supporting women in rural locations or with complex pregnancies were paid a standard rate, even though these women require longer travel times, and extra attention throughout pregnancy, labour and birth, and the postnatal period,” Julie Anne said. 

The funding would provide pay for a “wider scope of care”.

The announcement also included $60M to implement recommendations from the Health and Disability System review, and $35M for an action plan aimed at incorporating a kaupapa Māori approach to maternity care.

“We don’t know exactly where the money’s going to land, but this is still a huge boost and recognition of all the hard work we have been doing,” Deb said of the announcement. 

Midwives, parents and advocates have long been calling for improved maternity support in Wanaka.

Wanaka midwives, mothers and families have long been fighting for midwives to be better resourced, better paid and have better access to primary birthing facilities. 

Deb was pleased to hear rural midwives would be paid for more of what they do but questioned whether the funding would truly cover all the aspects of care which rural midwives provide.

“Until all the detail has come out it’s hard to say how beneficial it is,” Deb said. “It will be interesting to see where that money is ultimately provided to.”

But funding for maternity care was always a positive, and a $2,500 one-off payment received by midwives last month was appreciated and helped with expenses, she said. 

New Zealand College of Midwives also said it looked forward to receiving more details about the funding: “We are pleased that the funding announced today will start to address some of the inequities for women and for midwives who provide their care and we look forward to working through the details," chief executive Alison Eddy said. 

Deb and other local midwives met with Southern District Health Board (SDHB) representatives this week to discuss the future of the region’s primary birthing unit facilities, ahead of a public meeting in Cromwell next Thursday.

The SDHB aims to confirm the location or establishment of a primary maternity facility for the Wanaka/Central Otago region by the end of August, and the upcoming meeting is being held to get the community’s input on options. 

Deb said it was crucial that the community showed up to have their say: “We are really encouraging as many people as possible to attend - if people can make that effort it would be really beneficial.”

Her own meeting with the SDHB had been encouraging. 

“[SDHB primary and population health general manager] Mary Cleary Lyons who was running the meeting has definitely got a good grasp of the situation and really wants to make a difference, but in the end I think it will be the community that makes the decision.”

The long battle for improved maternity support in Wanaka is starting to feel like it is getting somewhere, she said: “This feels like progress.”

Next week’s meeting, open to the public, will take place on Thursday July 23, from 4pm, at Cromwell Presbyterian Church, 10 Elspeth Street, Cromwell.

PHOTOS: Supplied