Midwives provide quality care for mothers, babies and families in hospitals and in communities around New Zealand.
Midwives have an important role in improving health outcomes in our communities. They understand that every childbearing woman deserves to give birth within a safe and supported environment for herself and her baby.
On this page you'll find items of professional interest to midwives.
New Midwifery Staffing Advisory Group
June 2012
The Miwifery Staffing Advisory Group National Forum Proceedingsy (PDF, 312 KB)
October 2011
The Midwifery Staffing Advisory Group (MSAG) has been established as a national advisory group tasked with looking at midwifery and ancillary staffing in maternity units.
The MSAG is a collaborative activity involving DHBs, the New Zealand College of Midwives, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and the Midwifery Employer Representation and Advisory Service.
The goal is to develop an agreed evidence based methodology for staffing and resourcing maternity units with a focus on the midwifery, RN and ancillary workforce. This work will fulfil the requirements of the NZ Maternity Standards, the Referral Guidelines and maternity services specifications.
As a key stakeholders in the provision of Maternity Services in NZ, NZNO members are invited to review and comment on the attached Terms of Reference for the Advisory Group and signal the level of involvement and communication that you would like to maintain.
Midwifery Staffing Advisory Group Terms of reference (docx)
Feedback: Please make your comments to Kate Weston, NZNO Professional Nursing Advisor at katew@nzno.org.nz.
The coordinating body for this work is the Safe Staffing Healthy Workplaces Unit which is an entity that has been established by DHBs and health sector unions. The Advisory Group has already begun steps to undertake a DHB pilot to test a staffing methodology. The results of this pilot will be presented to the sector at a forum planned for May 2012. We will keep you informed of the details of the forum as they are developed and would warmly invite your participation in this event.
Vitamin D in Pregnancy and Infancy
The Ministry of Health has released advice on sun exposure for pregnant women and infants, together with identification of those high risk of vitamin D deficiency and recommondations for vitamin D supplementation.
For further information please click on the links below:
More information about midwifery
Grants for Midwifery Postgraduate Study
New MOH Publications
January 2009
The Ministry of Health has released updated Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Pregnant and Breastfeeding Mothers which is available from:
http//:www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/4676.
Eating for Healthy Pregnant Women (HE1805) and Eating for Healthy Breastfeeding Women (GE1805) have also been updated and are available from the health education resource website:
http://www.healthed.govt.nz.
The updated sections include 4.3.4 Mercury; Section 4.6.1 Pre-Conception Nutrition (related to fish intake an mercury) and Section 4.6.2 Effect of maternal nutrition on incidence of infant allergy.
The changes made are very specific and should not affect most healthy women. Recommendations regarding mercury relate to fish intake during and when planning a pregnancy and introduces three rather than two categories of fish. Consumption of 2nd category fish should be limited to 4 x 150g servings per week and fish in Category 3 (shark, marlin, swordfish and some trout) should only be consumed once a fortnight during pregnancy.
The recommendation on maternal diet and prevention of food allergies relates to consuming peanuts and states that avoiding peanuts and peanut products during pregnancy and breastfeeding is not necessary.
Midwife Newsletters
June 2012 - Advisory Group National Forum Report (312KB, PDF)
May 2012 (790KB, PDF)
September 2008 (74 KB, PDF)