Media Release 16 June 2026

Full funding of maternity ultrasound scan would end decades of access barriers for New Zealand families

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and the New Zealand College of Midwives (NZCOM) welcome the opposition’s pledge to fully fund maternity ultrasound scans in Aotearoa New Zealand, should they be elected in November.  The proposed policy commitment would address one of the most persistent and clinically serious access barriers facing pregnant women and their whānau.

Under the policy:

• Free maternity scans will be added to a patient’s Medicard after a referral from a health practitioner.
• Labour will fund every scan a doctor or midwife deems medically necessary.
• Free maternity scans are costed at $28.6 million a year, which would be funded from the revenue of Labour’s targeted capital gains tax.
• Labour plans to invest $3 million a year in 24 additional paid trainee sonographer positions – one cohort of 12 a year – funded from Health New Zealand baselines.

“RANZCOG and NZCOM have been raising concerns about maternity ultrasound funding for years, and we are heartened to see this issue finally receiving the attention it deserves. The clinical consequences of delayed or missed scans can be devastating. Full funding is the right goal, and we are committed to working constructively with any government to make it a reality,” said Dr Emma Jackson, Vice-President, RANZCOG Aotearoa New Zealand.

Maternity ultrasound scans are essential to safe pregnancy care. During a straightforward pregnancy, two routine scans are recommended. However, where there are concerns about fetal wellbeing, such as a baby appearing small for gestational age, a woman may require as many as eight scans. Access to these scans is a matter of clinical safety for mothers and babies.

Despite their clinical importance, funding for community-based maternity ultrasound scans has been inadequate for decades. The fee paid to private community providers, who deliver the majority of maternity ultrasound services in Aotearoa New Zealand, was set in 2007 and has remained unchanged for nearly 20 years. This chronic underfunding has resulted in increasing copayments to cover costs, placing the burden squarely on pregnant women.

Earlier this year, interim measures introduced a $12.9 million funding boost that capped copayments at $30 for Community Services Card (CSC) holders and $90 for non-CSC holders. While this was a welcome relief, RANZCOG and NZCOM have been clear that it does not go far enough. At $90 per scan, the cumulative cost for a high-risk pregnancy requiring multiple scans can still reach $720 – a significant and potentially prohibitive expense for families.

“Midwives see every day the stress that cost creates for pregnant women who know they need a scan but are weighing it against other household pressures. No woman or whānau in Aotearoa should be in that position. We welcome any commitment that removes cost as a barrier to clinically necessary maternity care,” said Te Paea Bradshaw, NZCOM Midwifery Advisor.

Full funding – eliminating copayments for all clinically necessary maternity ultrasound scans – would finally bring Aotearoa New Zealand into line with the clinical and ethical standard that no woman should forgo essential pregnancy care because of cost.

RANZCOG and NZCOM note that full funding must be accompanied by sustainable, long-term funding arrangements for community providers, appropriate clinical oversight to ensure funded scans are clinically indicated, and attention to equitable access across regions, including for rural and remote communities.

RANZCOG and NZCOM are committed to advocating for and supporting the development of a sustainable funding model that provides access to scans which works for women and whānau.

ENDS

Media enquiries:

Catherine Cooper
RANZCOG Executive Director Aotearoa New Zealand
021 137 0748

Te Paea Bradshaw
NZCOM Midwifery Advisor
03 377 2732