Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Associate Minister of Health): Yesterday, I announced changes to the way community midwives are paid to better reflect the challenges they face providing care and support to mothers and whānau. Community midwives are paid through what is known as a primary maternity services notice. The previous notice was introduced in 2007. It was out of date, and provided no compensation for the additional time and travel required of some maternity care providers. This created an unsustainable business model for maternity in rural and highly deprived communities, and barriers to access. The new notice is more flexible and will provide greater funding to midwives working in more remote parts of New Zealand and when they are supporting mothers and whānau with complex clinical or social needs. 