IMAGE CREDIT: JERUSHA SUTTON
Professional indemnity insurance position statement
Importance/Issue
In Australia, AHPRA registration standards require all health care professionals to have Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) for all aspects of their practice, and for Privately Practising Midwives (PPM’s) this includes intrapartum (labour and birth) care, which is often provided at the woman’s home. There is currently no such PII product available for PPM’s in Australia.
To combat this, an exemption was put in place in 2009, which was extended in 2013 and has continued to be extended over and over, with the most recent extension due to expire in June 2025.
In the latest federal budget in May 2024, it was announced that there would be "prioritised access to homebirth" with the government proposing a solution to the longstanding PII exemption, which would see the government covering 100% of claims costs for privately practicing midwives providing "low-risk homebirth and intrapartum care", with legislation to come and plans to commence as of July 1, 2025.
It is the view of Homebirth NSW that a suitable insurance product is needed to protect midwives and women and to legitimise homebirth in the public view as a safe birth option, but that this product needs to provide cover for ALL women for homebirth to remain accessible and safe.
This is a very new announcement, and we are seeking further clarification urgently around what this language of "low risk" means and how this will impact the women seeking homebirths and privately practicing midwives.
Our aims
Homebirth NSW aims to help find a suitable insurance product that the majority of PPMs and consumers are satisfied with.
How will we do this?
We will continue discussions with consumers and midwives to determine their wants and needs for an insurance product.
We want to ensure that the insurance product meets everyone’s needs, is not too expensive and restrictive to prevent women being ‘risked out’ of homebirth more than they already are now, which is the greatest fear in light of these announcements.
We will continue to engage with the relevant politicians to ensure consumers are being consulted throughout this process, and fight to secure government subsidies for any overlapping costs involved with transitioning from one insurer to another, to reduce the financial impact to midwives and women.
Where are we now?
As of May 2024, we have reached out to the Australian College of Midwives alongside our sisters at Homebirth Australia, Maternity Choices Australia, and Better Births Illawarra, to attempt to gain further insight about what discussions have taken place about how this proposed solution will work and the impact of the "low risk" language on the bigger picture of access to homebirth.
We urge our Privately Practicing Midwives to also reach out to ACM with their concerns, especially those that are ACM members, as ACM appear to have the bigger political pull at the moment and need to hear the concerns from the midwives as well.
We will continue to communicate the information that we have as we have it, as much as possible.
We have also created an email template for the consumers and homebirth communities to use to reach out to your local member and the health ministers. You can find this linked here.
Download this position statement
In Australia, AHPRA registration standards require all health care professionals to have Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) for all aspects of their practice, and for Privately Practising Midwives (PPM’s) this includes intrapartum (labour and birth) care, which is often provided at the woman’s home. There is currently no such PII product available for PPM’s in Australia.
To combat this, an exemption was put in place in 2009, which was extended in 2013 and has continued to be extended over and over, with the most recent extension due to expire in June 2025.
In the latest federal budget in May 2024, it was announced that there would be "prioritised access to homebirth" with the government proposing a solution to the longstanding PII exemption, which would see the government covering 100% of claims costs for privately practicing midwives providing "low-risk homebirth and intrapartum care", with legislation to come and plans to commence as of July 1, 2025.
It is the view of Homebirth NSW that a suitable insurance product is needed to protect midwives and women and to legitimise homebirth in the public view as a safe birth option, but that this product needs to provide cover for ALL women for homebirth to remain accessible and safe.
This is a very new announcement, and we are seeking further clarification urgently around what this language of "low risk" means and how this will impact the women seeking homebirths and privately practicing midwives.
Our aims
Homebirth NSW aims to help find a suitable insurance product that the majority of PPMs and consumers are satisfied with.
How will we do this?
We will continue discussions with consumers and midwives to determine their wants and needs for an insurance product.
We want to ensure that the insurance product meets everyone’s needs, is not too expensive and restrictive to prevent women being ‘risked out’ of homebirth more than they already are now, which is the greatest fear in light of these announcements.
We will continue to engage with the relevant politicians to ensure consumers are being consulted throughout this process, and fight to secure government subsidies for any overlapping costs involved with transitioning from one insurer to another, to reduce the financial impact to midwives and women.
Where are we now?
As of May 2024, we have reached out to the Australian College of Midwives alongside our sisters at Homebirth Australia, Maternity Choices Australia, and Better Births Illawarra, to attempt to gain further insight about what discussions have taken place about how this proposed solution will work and the impact of the "low risk" language on the bigger picture of access to homebirth.
We urge our Privately Practicing Midwives to also reach out to ACM with their concerns, especially those that are ACM members, as ACM appear to have the bigger political pull at the moment and need to hear the concerns from the midwives as well.
We will continue to communicate the information that we have as we have it, as much as possible.
We have also created an email template for the consumers and homebirth communities to use to reach out to your local member and the health ministers. You can find this linked here.
Download this position statement