4 September 2020

Kia ora koutou members,

Today, the Ministry of Health has released its proposed draft revised Section 88 Notice for formal consultation. The Ministry is proposing these changes to enable the funding framework for primary maternity services; to better reflect the work actually done, to support equity (by adding modules for services provided to women who have greater needs and thus require more care), to improve the timeliness of payments in relation to work completed, and implement the additional $21.25million per annum which has been allocated for Section 88 in the Budget.

The documents can be accessed here: https://consult.health.govt.nz/maternity/primary-maternity-services-notice-review-2021-cons/ or here: https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/primary-maternity-services-notice-review-2021

The consultation will close at 5.00pm on Friday 13 November 2020.

The College will be developing a submission on behalf of members and will consult your views by survey. Individual midwives are also welcome to provide feedback directly to the Ministry.

The intended timeframe for the revised notice to be in place is April 2021. Details of the timeline of events from now until implementation are available in the discussion document on page 10.

As the additional funding for Section 88 has been allocated from the 1 July 2020, the Ministry of Health has been working on an interim measure, to increase prices in a limited number of modules in the existing Notice, (until the new Notice can be implemented in April 2021).

We understand that the process required to put these new interim prices in place is well underway and that these will be backdated from 1 July 2020. We will keep members informed of any further details as they become known.

Alison Eddy

Chief Executive

New Zealand College of Midwives|Te Kāreti o ngā Kaiwhakawhānau ki Aotearoa