8 months into the fiscal year, the province has notified the Ontario College of Midwives that it’s retroactively cutting its operational grant—funding the college had been receiving since its inception 25 years ago. cmo.on.ca/important-upda…
The College regulates a profession where demand has far outstripped availability, and has proven cost and health benefits to the perinatal health care system.
The College’s existence and purpose is also mandated by two Provincial Acts. If I’m understanding its letter right, it cannot make cuts to the services it provides to make up for funding shortfalls.
“In September 2018, the Ford government was told by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to negotiate with midwives to end the pay equity gap. To date, the Ford Tories have refused to negotiate.” nationalobserver.com/2018/12/13/new…
So this Q has popped up in a couple of responses: why is/was the College of Midwives of Ontario the only one in the province to receive gov. assistance? Shouldn't it be self-sustaining? There's a couple of answers to that—one simple, the other less so.
As @fatimabsyed points out: at 900 members, midwifery in ON is still a small practice compared to, say, family GPs or OBs. Membership alone can't sustain the functions of a regulatory college—something the province acknowledged when drawing up midwifery policy in the early '90s.
So, why not train more midwives? It's in-demand health care & there are waiting lists at every MW clinic in the province, right? Only 3 universities in ON offer the 4-year BHSc degree required for the job; they are extremely competitive programs.
(Aside: last year, RBC cancelled a popular tuition loan program for MW students, but still offers up to $275k and $125k for medical and law students w/o co-signors.) thestar.com/news/gta/2017/…
There's also the issue of hospital access. MWs deliver babies in home births, birthing centres, and, importantly, hospitals. In the latter, they're limited to the access privileges any given hospital will allow a clinic—and those numbers rarely reach demand.
.@ontariomidwives President Elizabeth Brandeis in 2017: "It does come down to money to some degree, but it also comes down to power and influence. Physicians still control decision making in hospitals and that affects what happens at the systemic level." cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
