MP queries use of app for midwife jobs

An MP is asking why on-call midwives are resorting to using a social media messaging app to co-ordinate staff support in northern Southland.

Clutha–Southland MP Hamish Walker says it is absurd that a group of nine midwives are using Facebook Messenger to organise on-call support when internet connectivity was not always reliable in rural Southland.

The app should be used to organise Sunday barbecues, not emergency callouts, he said.

Midwife Nicky Peeling said funding from the Ministry of Health and the Southern DHB for a locum midwife assisting Sarah Stokes in Lumsden and Jo-Anne Lundman in Te Anau had stopped.

This led to a meeting at which the aim was to find a solution for ongoing support.

The decision made was that a group of nine midwives including five from Gore and several others from Winton and Invercargill would start a Facebook group to provide on-call support, she said.

A major concern was that any of the midwives who had their own workload in their own areas would struggle to get to Lumsden

Hamish Walker

Clutha–Southland MP

or Te Anau in time for the call, Peeling said.

The midwives were also under no obligation to make the call and wouldn’t get paid until they attended the birth, she said.

The meeting was the fourth to involve members from LMCs, Gore Health, the Southern DHB, the New Zealand College of Midwives, the Ministry of Health, the Northern Southland Medical Trust and local GPs. It was chaired by Gore District mayor Tracy Hicks.

A Southern DHB spokesperson said various actions were being explored and it was not appropriate for the DHB to comment on actions outside of the stakeholder forum.

Hicks said he was also unable to comment outside of the forum.

Walker said it was the last day the locum midwife would be working in northern Southland and residents in the area were concerned about the new support systems.