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Five midwives working in Central Hawke’s Bay were surprised to read a report suggesting there is just one midwife left in the area.
The 2024 Midwifery Workforce Survey and Non-Practising Survey, conducted by Te Tatau o te Whare Kahu Midwifery Council and published in September, said all up,Hawke’s Bay had 92 midwives, with only one working in Central Hawke’s Bay.
That result came about by how the survey was conducted, with midwives asked to select their primary work region.
Because there are fewer births in CHB than the twin cities further north, most midwives operate predominately out of the cities, with a day each week in Waipukurau, chair of the New Zealand College of Midwives in Hawke’s Bay Linley Taylor says.
Broken down, the figures for the primary work area region and number of midwives showed there were 71 midwives in Hastings, 14 in Napier, six in Wairoa and one in CHB.
Taylor, a fulltime Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) midwife of seven years, said expectant mothers could feel reassured that there was more than one midwife in Central Hawke’s Bay.
Linley Taylor holding baby Aria Carswell, born to parents Shontae and Blair Carswell on October 2, 2024, during the six-week postnatal discharge visit in the Central Hawke's Bay maternity clinic.
“Being pregnant and a woman in Central Hawke’s Bay, they have amazing wrap-around services and it’s easy to secure a midwife.”
She said there were 43 LMC midwives who operate across Napier, Hastings, Havelock North and Central Hawke’s Bay. Taylor said her figures did not include Wairoa or core or community midwives, who she said often work out of Health NZ facilities like hospitals.
“Hawke’s Bay is a great place to work if you’re a midwife.”
Taylor said in 2024 five midwives were operating out of the Tukituki Medical Centre in Waipukurau.
She said it was normal for the midwives with a full caseload of four to six birthing women to work part of a weekday at the Waipukurau clinic.
“We all have a day ... none of us do a full day in CHB because the numbers aren’t there.”
While she had chosen not to service CHB in 2025, Taylor said there were now four experienced midwives and three graduate LMC midwives to service the area with antenatal care.
“They are well-supported by the experienced midwives.”
The Midwifery Council survey reported that nationwide 3364 midwives held a practising certificate at the time of the survey.
This was 66 more than at the same time in 2023, bringing the number of midwives in the workforce to the highest level seen since records started.
It found that 41.2% of midwives nationwide were not practising due to parental leave, while 5.2% cited stress or burnout as their reason for not practising.
Taylor said it would be unusual for an expectant mother in Hawke’s Bay to miss out on securing a midwife during pregnancy, saying the number of LMC midwives was “generous” in this region.
“We have a really awesome midwifery community here in Hawke’s Bay.”
Chief executive of Te Tatau o te Whare Kahu, Midwifery Council Lesley Clarke said the survey was carried out annually and was a mandatory precursor to the application for an annual practising certificate.
“The report would not state that only one midwife serviced Central Hawkes Bay, it would be advising that only one midwife chose ‘Central Hawkes Bay’ as an answer to the workforce survey question “Please select your main area of Midwifery practice."
Clarke said the midwives selected answers from pre-determined drop-down boxes.
“This data is then extracted from our database and transferred into an Excel spreadsheet where we run pivot tables to graph the information produced on the workforce survey report.”
The survey was for midwives who held a practising certificate on June 5, 2024 and most responses were collected in February and March 2024.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
