Page 3898 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
covered by other legislation and the procedures in the health facilities. This establishes a pathway. That is all it does. If there are eligible midwives, they will need to go and find a medical practitioner that they can collaborate with who supports that before they can be credentialed.
This is a step forward for midwifery-led care, a very small step forward, but it does not challenge anything that is currently in operation at our public health facilities. It is now over to the obstetricians and gynaecologists to work with midwives, if they seek credentialing through this pathway that we are providing today, to see if it can work in the ACT—because it is working everywhere else. That is all we are doing today. Let us not pretend we are doing anything more. We are not going to have eligible midwives racing into the hospital tomorrow with all these pregnant women to provide care for them. That is not going to happen. In fact, I will be surprised if we do find an arrangement where an eligible midwife can reach agreement and provide this care because of the concerns of local obstetricians. But I am hopeful that it will happen because many women want this type of care. They do not want their only choice to be an obstetrician or gynaecologist. Thousands of women all over the world only have access to midwifery-led care. In the ACT we do not think this is good enough. This provides a pathway for that to occur, should agreement be reached. That is simply what we are doing today.
Question put:
That Part 1.2 be agreed to.
The Assembly voted—
|
Ayes 8 |
Noes 7 | ||
|
Mr Barr |
Mr Corbell |
Mr Coe |
Ms Lawder |
|
Ms Berry |
Ms Gallagher |
Mrs Dunne |
Mr Smyth |
|
Dr Bourke |
Mr Gentleman |
Mr Hanson |
Mr Wall |
|
Ms Burch |
Mr Rattenbury |
Mrs Jones | |
Question so resolved in the affirmative.
Remainder of bill, by leave, taken as a whole and agreed to.
Bill agreed to.
Sitting suspended from 11.15 to 2.30 pm.
Questions without notice
Health—breast screening
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, last week the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released its latest report on the occurrence and treatment of breast cancer in Australia. Only the Northern Territory and New South Wales were shown to have lower participation rates for breast screening than the ACT. Minister why does the ACT have such low participation rates for breast screening?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video