Call for EOIs for assistance to attend HCQ's Patient Travel Assistance Forum - Mount Isa - Tuesday 3 August 2010

See below...

Health consumers living in the North, Far North and North West Queensland and the Gulf are invited to express interest in attending a forum Health Consumers Queensland is holding in relation to Patient Travel Assistance.

Health Consumers Queensland (HCQ) aims to strengthen the consumer (patient) perspective in health services policy, systems and service reform and improvement by providing the Minister for Health with information and advice and by supporting and promoting consumer engagement and advocacy.

HCQ is hosting a targeted forum for consumers in the North, Far North and North West Queensland and the Gulf in relation to the Patient Travel Assistance on Tuesday, 3 August 2010 at The All Seasons Hotel, Rodeo Drive, Mount Isa from 6:30 pm to 9.00 pm. Attached is further information about the forum.

The purpose of the forum is to gather a cross section of consumers' perspectives in the North, Far North and North West Queensland and the Gulf about current issues relating to the Patient Travel Assistance and to explore solutions and strategies to improve outcomes for health consumers.

Limited sponsorship (accommodation and travel) is available to those consumers who would otherwise be unable to attend this event.

Applicants wanting to attend must complete an expression of interest form. Those wanting sponsorship and/or support need to indicate this on page 3 of the expression of interest form.

The expression of interest form can be returned by email, post or fax to HCQ as per the details on the application form. If you require assistance to complete the form, please phone (07) 3234 0611 and a member of the Secretariat will be able to assist you.

Please note this document contains attachments which are over 1MB to download from your computer. If you have difficulty in accessing, reading or printing this, please contact Health Consumers Queensland on 3234 0611 and we can assist you.

We look forward to seeing you at the forum.


Kind regards

Secretariat
Health Consumers Queensland
Ph: 1800 613 251* (toll free) / 07 3234 0611
*Mobile calls to this number may incur extra charges depending on your mobile phone service provider.
********************************************************************************

Gold Coast Birth Centre CLOSED yesterday - RALLY TODAY 11am

See below for Maternity Coalition Queensland's press release sent out last night.

Join the Save Gold Coast Birth Centre Facebook group to stay updated.

PRESS RELEASE: Thurs 15 July

Gold Coast Birth Centre shut without notice – women rally


The closure of the Gold Coast Birth Centre this afternoon at 5pm without consultation or explanation has left Queensland women outraged and preparing to rally. Hundreds of women will be left without their expected birth care as a result of a completely unexplained closure.

Rebecca Jenkinson, mother of two and President of Maternity Coalition Queensland branch said that women will be travelling from all over the South East to protest. “There have been rumblings for months about hostile attitudes from the Gold Coast Hospital management. Now this closure has occurred today without consultation or proper process.”

The best quality evidence shows birth centre midwifery care to be at least as safe as standard birth care. “Transfers to medical care are a normal and safe part of birth centre care and adverse outcomes occur in all models from time to time. But these women are in a birth centre metres away from a regular birth unit – on the same floor even. This closure is an attack on women’s choices.”

“At a time when both the Federal and State Governments are looking to expand midwifery choices for pregnant and birthing women it seems that Gold Coast Hospital are out of step with what’s happening across Queensland and Australia. In fact, the state government is planning to open another Birth Centre in Toowoomba by the end of this year because this model of care is so popular with families.”

Maternity Coalition were involved in the lobbying which led to the election commitment to establish a Birth Centre at the Gold Coast Hospital. “Five years on, the Government should be moving to expand this model of care, and give all women access to continuity of carer from a known midwife” Ms Jenkinson said. “We call upon the Minister for Health to act urgently to protect women’s access to this kind of care – a model of care that has repeatedly been shown to be safe and is in great demand from women” Ms Jenkinson added

Women are gathering from 11am at Little High Street, Southport with their babies to demand that the Birth Centre be immediately reopened.

For more information contact Maternity Coalition Qld Media Spokesperson: Joanne Smethurst, 07 3256 8127.

Sue Kildea on Radio National tomorrow approx 11.30am (Thurs 15 July)

Sue Kildea will be on ABC Radio National's Bush Telegraph program tomorrow approx. 11.30am. She will be discussing birth on country and her upcoming trip to Inuit communities in Canada. Listen in or listen to the podcast afterwards.

Professor Sue Kildea is the Professor of Midwifery and Clinical Chair of Midwifery for the ACU and Mater Health Service.

She is a registered nurse and midwife with clinical, management, policy, education and research experience across both acute care and primary health care settings. Together with Molly Wardaguga, a Senior Aboriginal Health Worker from Maningrida, Professor Kildea was the joint recipient of the UTS Human Rights Award in 2004 for contribution to advancing reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. She has performed World Health Organisation and other consultancies in Vietnam, Mongolia and Indonesia and worked as a midwife in South Africa. She is currently a chief investigator on 3 NHMRC grants, 4 government funded grants and tenders, 3 internal grants (evaluations). Professor Kildea will be presenting at the Normal Birth conference in Vancouver in August 2010.

And yet MORE homebirth media!

ABC online article: "Support for plan to assist home births in remote areas", Tuesday 13 July, 2010:

Three peak bodies for childbirth are pledging their support for a program to allow mothers in remote areas to have babies in their communities, rather than travel to cities.

The Australian College of Midwives, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the College of Rural and Remote Medicine have backed the proposal, which is modelled on a similar program in the Inuit community in remote Canada.

The Australian Opinion piece by Debbie Slater, Childbirth Australia: "Homebirth statistics", Tuesday 13 July, 2010.

Blog post on midwivesVictoria: "MANA critique of Wax et al, Am J Obstet Gynecol 2010", Monday 12 July, 2010.

Sydney Morning Herald article: "Home births a lonelier option due to midwife insurance risk". Features quotes from the Australian College of Midwives, Homebirth Australia and homebirth mother Tilly Mitchell. Sunday 11 July, 2010.

Blog post on Science & Sensibility: A Research Blog About Healthy Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond from Lamaze International: "Meta-analysis: the wrong tool (wielded improperly)", Saturday 10th July, 2010 by Amy Romano.

Border Mail article: "Dannii ‘showed home birth safe’", Saturday 10th July, 2010.

Daily Telegraph article: "Dannii Minogue shows new baby Ethan to the world via Twitter", Saturday 10th July, 2010.

The Australian Opinion piece by midwife Barb Cook: "Impossible midwives: private midwifery care", Saturday 10th July, 2010.

Blog post by Jennifer Block (US author of "Pushed"): New AJOG Home Birth Study Political?, Thursday 8th July, 2010.

More homebirth media

* “Dannii Minogue has baby boy, home-birth plan scrapped” – SMH, July 7

* Opinion piece: “Home birth not worth risk, Dannii” - Herald Sun, July 9

* Story: “Dannii's bouncing bundle of controversy” - 7pm Project, July 8

* Video: “Risks involved with home birth” featuring an interview with obstetrician Dr Gino Pecoraro. Search for “home birth” here - 7pm Project, July 8.

* “U.S. home birth risk review 'political': MD” – CBC News, July 2

But Dr. Michael Klein, an emeritus professor of family practice and pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, said the U.S. conclusions are "crap" that don't consider the facts.

"It's a politically motivated study that was motivated by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology who is unalterably opposed to home birth, and they probably were quite happy to publish this article because it fits with their political position," Klein said.

* Blog post: “A new meta-analysis on the safety of home birth?” Science & Sensibility: A Research Blog About Healthy Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond from Lamaze International, July 5

The meta-analysis is compromised by the inclusion of a deeply flawed study that relies on birth certificates and includes preterm births, unplanned home births, and home births attended by unqualified providers. In the only analysis in which the researchers excluded this study, the significant excess of neonatal mortality disappeared.

TODAY -Third stage of labour education session at Mater Mothers Hospital with Kathleen Fahy

Optimal third stage of labour care for women at low-risk of postpartum haemorrhage: theory, evidence and practice

Dr Kathleen Fahy RM, PhD
Professor of Midwifery, Newcastle University

Friday 9th July

15.00-16.00

Conference Room 5.1, Mater Mothers' Hospital, South Brisbane

All Welcome

For more information contact Jyai Allen: Jyai.Allen@mater.org.au

Professor Kathleen Fahy is the Editor of Women and Birth: Journal of the Australian College of Midwives. She is Professor of Midwifery at the University of Newcastle.

MC speakers at "Legal and Ethical Issues in Maternity Care" one day seminar, Wesley Hospital - Sat 7 Aug

Bruce Teakle and Kylie Downie are speaking at the following seminar being organised by Marie Barton, Clinical Midwife Educator at the Wesley Hospital.

Legal and Ethical Issues in Maternity Care
Saturday 7 August 2010
Wesley Hospital, Auchenflower

The Wesley Maternity Conference is an opportunity to learn more about legal and ethical issues, advocacy, evidence-based practice, the consumer perspective and much more.

Topics & speakers include the following:

* Legal Issues and Risk Management in Obstetrics - Ms Marianna Kelly (Risk Adviser and Medico-Legal Adviser, Avant Law) & Mr Christopher West (Solicitor, Avant Law)

* Obstetric Malpractice - Dr Ted Weaver (RANZCOG President, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist

* Applying Evidence to Improve Maternity Care: Moving Forward with Learnings of the Past - Associate Professor Vicki Flenady (Acting Director, Mater Mothers’ Research Centre

* Informed Consent / Informed Choice in Maternity Care - Dr Belinda Maier (Midwifery Adviser to the Chief Nursing Officer, Queensland Health

* Informed Choice: The Consumer Perspective - Bruce Teakle and Kylie Downie (Maternity Coalition)

* Ethics and Advocacy Issues in Practice - Mary Sidebotham (Midwifery Lecturer, Griffith University)

NOTE: MC members are welcome to register by Friday 16th July at the Early Bird rate of $125.00. No registrations will be taken after Friday 30 July, for catering purposes.

For further information, see the flier below or contact Marie Barton, Clinical Midwife Educator, Maternity Unit, Wesley Hospital:
Phone: 07 3232 7158
Mobile: 0408 454 314
Email: marie.barton@uchealth.com.au