Member surveys and ballot to guide the NSWNMA in talks with Ministry of Health.

The NSWNMA’s longstanding claim for ratios in the public health system is for one midwife to every three women in postnatal wards.

The state government accepted this ratio and the Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce, comprising the NSWNMA, NSW Health, and local health districts, has been working to roll it out at selected hospitals.

They are Campbelltown, Liverpool, Nepean, John Hunter, Royal Hospital for Women, Royal Prince Alfred, and Westmead.

However, the shortage of midwives across the country means there is no ability to recruit to the positions to meet 1:3 immediately. This led the NSWNMA to seek members’ views to guide its work in the Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce.

Earlier this year the Association surveyed midwifery members twice on possible transitional arrangements in order to help meet workforce demand and rebuild midwifery.

The surveys explored workforce conditions and sought members’ opinions on issues such as night duty ratios and possible transitional skill mix arrangements (see pages 18 to 21).

The findings led the NSWNMA to propose a temporary variation of the 1:3 claim to allow for a transitional skill mix from 80-90 per cent to reach 100 per cent at all sites within a defined period of time. This would include RNs undertaking midwifery training in MidStart positions.

“This transitional approach to skill mix was the most supported option in our recent survey of PHS midwives,” said NSWNMA General Secretary Michael Whaites.

“We need to rebuild, retain and attract the midwifery workforce we need. We would not be considering this proposal if there was an immediately available workforce.

“This is not a change to our ratios claim – we will focus on negotiating a timeframe for transition to the full claim.

“By accepting a lower skill mix than our claim, for a defined period of time, we will be able to rebuild the midwifery workforce, with targeted recruitment and retention processes in place.”

Midwifery members were voting on whether they approve the General Secretary to negotiate a transitional skill mix. If members approve this, any outcome of those negotiations will be brought back to the members.

The NSWNMA Midwifery Workforce Survey found that: