A district health board may be about to offer a cash bonus to midwives equal to a 20% pay rise.Counties Manukau DHB is set to offer $11,000 to new and existing midwifery staff. Chief medical officer Don Mackie denies trying to poach staff, but says the cash is necessary to address a shortfall of 40 full-time midwives, a quarter of the number it needs. 

He says it is a question of acknowledging loyalty and retaining staff members, and not of luring midwives away from other district health boards. He also says the proposal has yet to be approved by the DHB’s chief executive. Read more