This report fulfils the requirements of the Ministry of Health to conduct a review of the maternity services in the Wellington area. The scope of the review was to report on the adequacy and appropriateness of accountability arrangements, including the systems and procedures that apply to maternity providers, and that ensure quality and safety in maternity services. The Terms of Reference also specified that the reviewers may identify issues to be looked at in the context of maternity services throughout the country.
Methodology
The review methodology consisted of:- document reviews
- interviews and meetings with a wide range of stakeholders
- observation and site visits
- review of submissions and responses to the Review Team’s request for written community input.
- The eight-week timeframe imposed limitations on how many people could be interviewed, how many documents could be reviewed, and the extent to which in-depth analysis of information could occur. Therefore this report must be read within this context.
- The ‘Wellington area’ was not defined in the Terms of Reference, so for the purposes of this report the ‘Wellington area’ means primarily the areas covered by CCDHB and Hutt Valley DHB.
- As CCDHB provides maternity services to significantly more women and babies than Hutt Valley DHB, and is also the tertiary referral centre for the region, the majority of the Review Team’s work focused on services provided by CCDHB.