Alberta midwives offered status quo funding amid fiscal squeeze
Alberta Health Services this week offered resources to ensure 2,774 courses of care, or births, to the province's midwives for 2016-2017, said Nicole Matheson, President of the Alberta Association of Midwives (AAM).
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Alberta midwives say they’e been told they can deliver as many babies this year as last, but that women seeking their services will increasingly feel the province’s fiscal pressure.
Alberta Health Services this week offered resources to ensure 2,774 courses of care, or births, to the province’s midwives for 2016-2017, said Nicole Matheson, President of the Alberta Association of Midwives (AAM).
That’s the same number the AAM was granted last September, an increase of 400 from the previous year, made possible by an additional $1.8 million in funding.
But while that assurance is welcome, additional funding is needed to deal with a growing waiting list of women seeking midwifery service and home births that now sits at 1,600, said Matheson.
“There’s been quite a bit of progress in continuing to work together but at the same time quite disappointing for the women who would like midwifery care,” said Matheson.
She said talks with AHS are continuing “on creating a more sustainable funding model.
“We understand the fiscal situation facing the province…we’re trying to identify how midwives can save the system money.”
Matheson also said the oil price-driven slump in government revenues is bad news for midwifery students enrolled at and graduating from Mount Royal University.
There are currently 96 active midwives in the province, along with 48 students – 12 of whom are expected to finish this year from MRU’s second graduating class, she said.
The province began funding midwifery service in 2009.
On Thursday, an official with AHS would only say negotiations with the AAM are continuing.
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