AMA welcomes amendment to the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 5 November 2009 - 3:05pm
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA welcomes the Government’s decision to amend the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009 to specify a formal requirement that midwives and nurse practitioners must work in collaboration with medical practitioners.
Dr Pesce said the AMA has been negotiating with the Government for this vital change to the legislation for some time, and the AMA had received recent support from other medical groups, most notably the Royal
Australian College of General Practitioners.
“We made it clear to the Government that without a requirement in law that there be collaborative arrangements between midwives, nurse practitioners and doctors then the legislation did not have any
safeguards to ensure continuity of patient care, nor did it have any protections against the fragmentation of patient care services,” Dr Pesce said.
“I repeat – the amendments impose a legal requirement for collaborative arrangements between medical practitioners and midwives or between medical practitioners and nurse practitioners.
“The AMA has worked cooperatively with the Government on these amendments to the legislation.