Moves planned to lobby for home births

Press, 2 May 1984, Page 10

Moves planned to lobby for home births

The New Zealand Home Birth Association will hold its 1984 annual conference in Christchurch on the week-end of May 5. The over-all theme of the conference will be to create a more effective lobbying and support group for the home birth movement. “The biggest challenge facing the movement is midwives’ salaries, which have not been moving upwards at the same rate as hospital midwives,” said Alison Locke, co-ordinator

of the Christchurch Home Birth Association. “The Minister of Health has admitted they are not paid enough. They are on call 24 hours a day, and yet, on their present pay rates, if they handle as many home births as they are able to, they can make no more than ?8000 per annum. "They should be paid as much as hospital midwives,” she said. Principal speaker at the conference will be an Auckland domiciliary

midwife, Joan Donnelly. She will speak about the political aspects of home births. A Christchurch general practitioner will also discuss his own experiences with patients choosing the home birth option. There will also be workshops on Saturday afternoon. The conference, which is open to the public, will be held at Hagley House. For further information, phone Alison Locke at 60147.