Midwives ask for more pay

Press, 18 March 1985, Page 24

Midwives ask for more pay

PA Wellington Home midwives want a doubling of the Government benefit they get for supervising home births. The midwives get 5167 a birth, which Wellington’s sole home midwife, Ms Jenny Johnston, described as appalling. She said the benefit was not only for the birth and labour but three ante-natal and 12 post-natal visits as well. The main effect of the low benefit rate was that women were being denied the right to have their babies at home because midwives were reluctant to go into the domiciliary service. “I know midwives who

are really interested in doing it but for the low pay,” Ms Johnston said. She said there were about 20 domiciliary midwives in New Zealand, and increasing the benefit to an adequate level would cost only an extra $lOO,OOO.

Ms Johnston said the previous Government raised the allowance 17 per cent last year, but the former Minister of Health, Mr A. G. Malcolm, did not seem in favour of home births. However, Labour Party policy was to expand the domiciliary midwife service, and the first step toward this would be an increased benefit, she said.