Midwives looking to quit over pay debacle
The Ministry of Health has again apologised to community midwives after a second pay issue in three weeks, as some in the profession look at throwing in the towel.
Ministry spokesman Dean Rutherford confirmed 364 midwives were affected by the ‘‘significant technical error’’ which impacted on pay claims submitted since Christmas Eve. The apology comes after a preChristmas pay error apology and following a change to the way the ministry pays community-based, on-call midwives that some say leaves them out of pocket.
Midwives have talked of having to borrow petrol money to get to births and living off donated food to survive the summer break without pay.
‘‘We acknowledge that this caused considerable concern and we sincerely apologise for the error,’’ Rutherford said.
The glitch – in which a router intermittently failed – has been fixed and the ministry payment team was working through claims.
The ministry also apologised for the timing of a December 22 email telling on-call community midwives to get their pay claims in for Christmas. The email was sent on December 22 – 34
minutes after the office apparently closed until January 10. In response to media questions, the ministry said it had the day wrong and it should have been December 23. It then extended the deadline until midday on Christmas Eve.
With the office open again on Monday, some say they got paid about 5pm that day, but others said they were not paid or only partly paid.
Northland midwife Denise McCormack said she had almost had enough, after a ministry pay system change that left her out of pocket.
‘‘We are just getting hammered from every direction,’’ McCormack said. She was now considering leaving the job or moving to Australia, where the pay was better.
She said the Christmas pay issue meant she had to rely on her partner’s pay over the summer break. She was eventually paid on Monday afternoon but only got $3000 of the $8000 she had invoiced for.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s new Maternity Services Notice for payments system – a system brought in to handle community midwife pay – meant an effective pay cut, she said.
‘‘I took a drop of $400 for a woman I had looked after before, during and after her birth.’’
Auckland midwife Carly Wilson said none of the midwives she knew who were awaiting outstanding pay had received the money.
The new pay system meant many midwives were considering leaving the profession, she said. ‘‘I will stick it out to the very end and I will keep fighting.’’
The ministry said that the new system, thanks to an $85 million over four years budget boost, was designed to ‘‘increase the flexibility of community maternity services’’ to better meet the needs of women and their whānau, make maternity services more equitable, and to ensure payments corresponded better with the services delivered.
Auckland midwife Gail Kiss, who had to borrow money for petrol to get to births after not being paid over Christmas, confirmed she was paid on Monday, but not the full amount.