Midwives in Victoria

There are a range of programs and initiatives to support public health services and maternity providers.

Rural Midwifery clinical supervision- New Initiative

$5 Million has been committed over four years to enhance rural midwifery clinical supervision and rural maternity services by:

1. Attracting new midwifery graduates to work in rural settings
2. Supporting existing rural RNs to undertake postgraduate midwifery studies, and
3. Improving the retention of existing rural midwives and increasing clinical connections.

The activities funded will differ across sites and across years, dependant on demand and local drivers. Current activities include:

• Supporting an increase in RN/RM graduates undertaking graduate programs within rural settings (for 2013 academic year)
• Establishment of rural consortia’s to establish and deliver collaborative early graduate programs for RN/RM graduates that blend exposure at larger sites with smaller sites. This is attracting graduates to sites that have been unsuccessful in employing midwifery graduates in the past. 
• The development of a combined RM/RN graduate year program outline that will be a resource for health services that are employing graduates of the combined Bachelors of Nursing & Midwifery for the first time and need to implement a combined graduate year program.
• Specific rural Midwifery scholarships for RN’s employed at small rural maternity services (less than 600 birth separations annually) to undertake postgraduate studies to register as a midwife. This ensures that dual registered staff are available to flexible meet the services demands of smaller rural services were birth numbers are low.
• Funding of additional postgraduate midwifery training places for those rural midwifery students’ clinical placements/supervision (who have received the midwifery scholarships). 

Maternity Connect Program

The Maternity connect program (MCP) has been developed to help rural health services continue to deliver quality maternity services in their local communities.

Through the MCP, rural health services will be able to arrange for their midwives to work for a planned period of time in another health service to ensure their workforce has the skills required.

The MCP will help rural midwives develop and maintain their skills and knowledge, and ensure the women in their local communities continue to receive quality maternity care.

Western Health is operating the program on behalf of the Department of Health. For more information go to: http://www.wh.org.au/Education_and_Training/Maternity_Connect_Program/index.aspx 

Collaborative arrangements with eligible midwives for Victorian public hospitals

The department has funded the development of a framework for use by Victorian public hospitals that are considering a private practice midwifery model. The framework will provide guidance on the appropriate mechanisms to consider, implement or review collaborative arrangements with Eligible Midwives (EMs) providing midwifery care to women who are admitted privately and seeking to birth in hospital under the care of the EM.

The draft of the framework developed by the 3Centres Collaboration is currently being reviewed by the department.

To find out more about this work, go to:

 Collaborative arrangements with eligible midwives for Victorian public hospitals (pdf, 215kb)  

Amendments to the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Act

The Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Supply by Midwives Midwife) Act 2012 amends the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 to provide a mechanism for suitably qualified and authorised registered midwives to prescribe scheduled medicines.

A FAQ is being developed to help answer some of the questions regarding the amendments to the Act and the ministerial approved list of drugs for endorsed midwives. This will be available on the website soon.

To find your copy of the Act go to: www.legislation.vic.gov.au

Prescribing List for endorsed midwives

The list of scheduled medicines for use and supply by endorsed midwives has been approved by the Minister for Health and published in the Victoria Government Gazette No. S 410 Friday 20 November 2012

For more information on the approved list go to: http://www.gazette.vic.gov.au/gazette/Gazettes2012/GG2012S410.pdf#page=1 

Contact

For further information about:

• Rural Midwifery Clinical Supervision, contact Nursepolicy@health.vic.gov.au
• Maternity Services in Victoria: www.health.vic.gov.au/maternitycare/