Dr Bassett’s views on maternity fee

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 1

Dr Bassett’s views on maternity fee

PA Wellington Doctors should now be more willing to provide maternity services to their patients after increased maternity consultation fees, the Minister of Health, Dr Bassett, said yesterday. But the increase, from $6.18 to $13.25 and backdated from April 1 this year, had been a very expensive undertaking for the medical profession, he said. The new rate was of the level the profession would probably have received if it had followed different procedures, “but they could have taken some extra Government money on the way,” he said. The Maternity Benefits Tribunal, which determined the new fee, was convened because the Medical Association and the Government had'failed to reach agreement on the benefit. The association had said the $6.18 fee was inadequate and that doctors would pull out of offering maternity care if the benefit was not increased. It had sought an increased fee of $lB. The Health Department proposed a base fee of $lO during the tribunal hearings. The maternity benefit is fully paid by the Government and means women receive free maternity, care, which consists of doctors’ visits before and after birth as well as the delivery. In its 28-page report released yesterday, the tribunal said submissions had been unanimous that

the scale of fees for medical services should be increased. It believed that if maternity benefits did not roughly equate fees which could be earned in other branches of medical practice, doctors would simply abandon obstetric work and services would decline. “We can only say that we are left with the general impression that many medical practitioners are disillusioned with maternity practice, that some at least have abandoned obstetrics and that the inadequacy of remuneration is, at the least, a contributing factor.” Dr Bassett said that one of the most positive aspects of the finding was ’‘that doctors should now be more willing to provide maternity services to their patients.” It was estimated the decision would cost the Government about $l4 million. At a press conference later he emphasised that the maternity benefit was the first of all welfare benefits set up by the Savage Labour Government and enshrined into law in 1939. The New Zealand Medical Association says its decision to seek a tribunal hearing for the Maternity Services Benefit has been vindicated. The association’s chairman, Dr John Broadfoot, said, “The decision to substantially increase the benefit paid for antenatal visits proves how far the benefit had been allowed to fall behind.”