Review of Maternity Services in New Zealand

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Review of Maternity Services in New Zealand

Date of publication: September 1999

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Summary
This is the report of the maternity services review undertaken by the National Health Committee (NHC) from March to August 1999. The review sought to assess the quality of the public maternity services being offered and whether women were happy with them; identify any barriers to women accessing maternity care; and identify ways to address issues noted in the review.

The review found that the maternity experience for the majority of women was a highly satisfying time in their lives. However, for some women this was not the case. The improvements called for did not require a radical structural change to the system that operates in New Zealand; rather a radical attitudinal change from the key groups that operate the system.

The review provided women with the opportunity to have their say about how they wanted publicly-funded maternity services to work for them. With the help of agencies like Te Puni Kokiri, 12 hui with Māori women were held around the country. An NHC-commissioned Pacific Islands reference group specifically accessed the opinions of Pacific women. As well, the review team met with women who lived in isolated rural areas, young teenage mothers, refugee, new immigrant mothers and women from Asian communities.

Through these meetings, the more than eleven thousand women who responded to the questionnaires and the one thousand who took part in the telephone survey, the voices of a wide cross-section of New Zealand women can be heard.

The report recommendations were as follows.

All maternity services must be governed by the same set of principles (which are listed in the full report).
Improve integration of primary maternity care into the continuum of primary health care through increased use of single service episodes of primary health care.
Any new direct contracting arrangements should address identified needs in the community rather than develop in areas which already have adequate maternity services.
The Health Funding Authority (HFA) should pursue a programme of active performance management. This should be closely monitored by the Ministry of Health.
Establish strong links between representative local knowledge and central decision-making.
The Ministry of Health and the HFA must expediate the development of a primary maternity workforce that is appropriate to the needs of New Zealand women.

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This publication is available in PDF format below:

Review of Maternity Services in New Zealand (PDF, 483 KB)

This publication is also available in hard copy. You can order a copy by emailing moh@wickliffe.co.nz or calling 04 496 2277 quoting HP number 3329. Please let us know your name, your physical address and how many copies you would like.

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Publishing information
Date of publication: September 1999

ISBN 0-478-10482-0 (Document)
ISBN 0-478-10483-9 (Internet)

Related information
Media Release: Improvements called for in maternity services for ‘hard-to-reach' and women with special needs (29 Sept 1999)

Media Release: NHC review finds maternity services safe but urges more co-operation (29 Sept 1999)