August 20, 2002

Finding birth outcome statisitics

Whenever Marsden Wagner speaks at an event, he likes to have the local statistics on birth outcomes available so he can make his presentation relevant to the local audience. I remember his last visit for the Future Birth events (1997) and the effort that was required to obtain these statistics for him.

It was easy in NSW - all our figures for public and private hospitals are published annually and are freely available (now via a website) and there were also good figures available from Western Australia and South Australia. Even the Northern Territory was forthcoming with useful data. Victoria had limited figures which were really useless as they contained no individual hospital data. The real fun began when we tried to find out what was happening in Queensland.

Every State compiles perinatal data, using the Midwives Data Collection that is common to all. In Queensland, the only data available for public consumption was for the public hospitals, and this could only be obtained by paying a fee of $120.00. We were told that the private system was just that.... no on-one could scrutinize their figures, as it was “commercial in confidence”!

Having paid the fee we then had to nominate exactly which hospitals and which specific data we wanted. A spread of hospitals was selected to try and get a representative sample of types of units across the State. Then, just at the last minute, a mysterious bundle “fell off the back of a truck” and suddenly we had vital statistics for birth outcomes at some of the leading private hospitals. No wonder they were hiding them - even then the operative birth rate (caesareans, plus forceps and vacuum) were around 75% in some of them!

This situation is disgraceful on a number of counts: taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent; the private system is partly taxpayer funded and should therefore be accountable; women have a right to know their chances of birth being normal (we now know this as well for NSW) and health professionals should know how their institution measures up against others that are similar.

As we get ready to launch the National Maternity Action Plan, these figures are important for underlining our message that midwifery care is better, cheaper, safer and more popular than standard medicalised birth. Our Queensland colleagues are now grappling with that State’s reluctance to part with their perinatal data, and no doubt will mount a campaign to expose the rorts going on (they must be, or they wouldn’t be hiding anything, would they?).

Good luck to our colleagues in Queensland, and to all the other birth activists lining up ready to do battle to have the NMAP accepted as national policy. The old saying seems appropriate here: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” - we are angry about delays in implementing maternity reforms and we want action!

Posted by andrea at August 20, 2002 06:11 PM

Comments

You may find it interesting to visit the sites about poker card, casino no deposit, online casino casions, gambling cash, blackjack sites, roulette casions, gamble tip, internet casino web, slot machine odds, online casino bonus deposit, online gamble game, casino gambling strategies, casino game strategies, las vegas table, video poker casinos, roulette online card, slot rule, blackjack online deposit, blackjack betting 3d, poker 888, gambling 8888, blackjack tip, poker on net, casino casions, casino gaming, gambling no deposit. .

Posted by: blackjack on January 19, 2004 07:59 AM

Comments

You may find it interesting to check the pages in the field of phentermine effect, zyban tablet, viagra cream, propecia for woman, online pharmacy prescriptions, tramadol mens, ultram 400mg, wellbutrin resistance, paxil overnight, meridia comparing, zyrtec online, xenical cheap, vioxx 12 5mg, vaniqa dosage, retin a canada pharmacy, prozac on line, generic viagra 10 pills, celexa woman, buy phentermine addiction, xenical capsules, ambien substitute, dilenyoung about, hopforyou pills, kip980 perscription medication, mng765 what is, pol_uri facts, piter_gordon mail order, miss20092000 2 month supply, robert_zed2003 fasten, fp292003 men, diagodream supplements, jacglen2003 can i, lisa_plamer products, gill_bern review, gtrgtr45 100mg, poklop2000 men`s, nolzer12 men`s, rtopopi mail order pharmacy, oklokol for woman, racertroy2003 information on, viagra information about, phentermine alternative. .

Posted by: fp292003 on January 21, 2004 01:47 PM