Birthing is undoubtedly one of the most life-altering experiences in a woman’s life. And every woman undergoing labour and birth needs extra support. The Covid-19 pandemic times we live in has placed restrictions on how many support persons are allowed to be with the woman during birthing in New Zealand, which is currently only one in most situations.
Asking for a change in this, Hallie Campbell, a birth photographer based in Auckland, has started a petition named ‘Increase birth support people limits in NZ hospitals and birth centres', which has got more than 13300 signatures within a week.
Campbell says, “I started the petition after witnessing first-hand how distressed families were feeling at the thought of birthing without the support systems they need and hearing from so many people who had birthed under the current hospital restrictions and the negative and sometimes traumatic effect that had on their birth experience.”
A signatory, Sharon Ashbrook, says, "Labour and birth is an incredible time in any person's life. Women need that support to help coach them thru, to support and encourage them. Limiting the number of people is unfair; it's unjust and simply disrespectful to all women and mothers."
‘It is up to individual DHBs to determine how they apply the visitor policy to birthing units’
When Indian Weekender contacted the Ministry of Health (MoH), a spokesperson said, “MoH has provided clinical guidance for DHBs for care during pregnancy and following birth. We understand how important it is for pregnant people to have support from whanau or friends during birth. It is up to individual DHBs to determine how they apply the visitor policy to birthing units, taking into account appropriate infection prevention measures to limit the spread of Covid-19, particularly in vulnerable settings like maternity and neonatal care.”
Talking about the policy for Auckland DHB, a spokesperson said, “Our patient whanau and visitor policy has been designed following guidance from the MoH to balance whanau support with appropriate infection prevention measures to help keep everyone safe. Generally, people birthing at Auckland City Hospital can have up to two birthing partners throughout labour and birth until they’re transferred to the post-natal ward. Once in the post-natal ward mama can have two nominated visitors, one at a time. These arrangements need modification at times when either mama or birthing partners are Covid-19 positive depending on the type of delivery and other departmental circumstances.”
Giving details about their current policy, Hutt Valley DHB and Capital & Coast DHB spokesperson says, “We recognise the important role that support people and whanau play – physically, emotionally, and culturally – during childbirth. We have strict and robust infection prevention and control protocols to ensure we can continue providing safe patient care while preventing the risk of infection in our hospitals.
“As per current policy, one support person can be with the labouring person and stay postnatally until discharge – as long as they fulfil safety criteria. Following birth, one other nominated support person (for the duration of the stay) may visit only once. They need to stay in the room and wear a medical mask in public spaces/if there is a staff member in attendance. We continue to monitor the evolving Covid-19 situation closely and consider what changes we may be able to make to our visitor policy in the future.”
‘Allow at least two birth support people'
Campbell stressed that the DHBs across the country should at least allow two birth support people. She says, "I understand that the hospital restrictions are currently decided at a DHB level, but I would love to see across the board at least an increase to two birth support people, even if that means RAT testing supports on arrival into the hospital, the impact that the extra support can have on someone's birth and postpartum experience can be huge.”
‘Having increased birth support would help reduce barriers to all whanau’
Treena Cooper, General Manager of PADA - Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Aotearoa - too echoes the sentiment saying, “The Covid pandemic is having ongoing detrimental impacts to whanau. Community perinatal support groups who work with whanau are seeing a lot more mums/birthing parents struggling with more severe anxiety or depression symptoms, like psychosis, and increased levels of respite. This is prevalent for the Pasifika, Asian and Migrant population as usually, they would have family come from overseas to help look after the new mum and baby, but due to Covid lockdown and border control, they have to do this alone. Increasing birth support in NZ hospitals and birth centres would help reduce barriers to all whanau.”
‘The current environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic has created some challenges'
Chief Executive of the NZ College of Midwives, Alison Eddy, explains that during the pre-Covid-19 time, most hospitals were very accommodating regarding the number of support people. It was determined by the woman coming into labour and what she would like, but Covid has changed things.
She says, “The current environment has created some challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The DHBs and the community hospitals need to balance public health requirements to minimise the risks of Covid-19 infection to members of the public and other patients with the needs of women during labour and the post-natal inpatient period to have access to support people. DHBs are working hard to accommodate these needs as much as possible.”
"The physical layout, ward set out, and design impact the various support people and visitor policies that individual hospitals have in place. Women and families are encouraged to find out in advance the policies in their local area, so they have a clear understanding of the arrangements in advance,” she signs off.