Professional Conduct
The Midwifery Council will be developing a Code of Conduct for midwives. The Council will be consulting on its development.
In the meantime the Council has ratified and adopted the Code of Ethics and Standards for Midwifery Practice set out in the Midwives Handbook for Practice (2005) published by the New Zealand College of Midwives. The Code and Standards have been recognised and used since the early 1990s by the profession and other bodies such as the Health and Disability Commissioner, ACC, the Nursing Council and Coroners' Courts as comprising the standards for midwifery practice in New Zealand.
Council has policy relating to the establishment of Professional Conduct Committees and the broad processes such Committees are required to comply with the principles of natural justice.
Recently, the Midwifery Council referred a midwife to its Professional Conduct Committee because she had met her professional responsibilities to engage in the Recertification Programme . As a result of its investigation the Professional Conduct Committee made some recommendations, all of which the Council accepted and acted on. An anonymised version of the report is available here so Council's attitude towards the few midwives who do not engage in the Recertification Programme is clear.
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