Karen Guilliland is to retire from her role as chief executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives

Karen Guilliland is to retire from her role at Chief Executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives at the end of the year.

Ms Guilliland, 69, has held the position since the college was founded in 1989.

Ms Guilliland said: “We have achieved so much over the past 30 years and we can be proud of a midwifery service that we know the women and families of New Zealand value greatly.

"I have loved leading the profession and it has been a great privilege.  It has been an exhilarating, exciting and rewarding role and I have no doubt that the college will thrive under the new leadership to come.”

Karen Guilliland was at the forefront of the movement to revive the midwifery profession in New Zealand during the 1970s and 1980s and to give women greater choice over how and where they gave birth.

She was instrumental in the campaign that led to legislation in 1990, the Nurses Amendment Act, that gave midwives the right to work autonomously, birthing babies without the requirement to have a doctor present.

The legislation was introduced by the then minister of health, later prime minister, Helen Clark who tweeted after hearing of Ms Guilliland’s announcement: 

“Karen Guilliland has done a remarkable job as a leader of New Zealand midwives over decades, including as CEO of the New Zealand College of Midwives.

"Thank you Karen for your consistent strong advocacy for midwifery and for women.”

The revival of midwifery led to the development of a midwifery-led maternity system in New Zealand that provides continuity of care for women throughout pregnancy, birth and the post natal period.

The system has become a role model internationally while an increasing volume of research is supporting this model of care as the best for the overall health of mothers and babies.

Ms Guilliland and colleagues founded the college because they believed it was essential for the midwifery profession to have its own “voice”, to promote the wellbeing of the profession and to promote professional standards in order to be able to personalise the service midwives could offer women and whānau.

The college now has a membership of over 3,000 representing most midwives in New Zealand. It continues its campaigning role for sustainable maternity services alongside a wide range of other activities.

These include post graduate mentoring and education for all midwives and for the intern year for new graduates in their first year of practice, advice and publications for members and running the Midwifery Standards Review programme to regularly support midwives’ performance.

The Christchurch-based college under Ms Guilliland’s leadership also set up the Midwifery Employee Representation & Advisory Service union for employed midwives and the Midwifery and Maternity Provider Organisation to support self employed midwives.

Ms Guilliland has been at the forefront of the recent campaign to win improved pay for employed midwives through gender pay equity.

She will continue in a consultancy role after her retirement to assist with these negotiations.

She has also demonstrated strong international professional leadership in relation to human rights, equality and equity through her work with the International Confederation of Midwives over the last 25 years.

Keriana Brooking, deputy director, service commissioning at the Ministry of Health joined with the director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield in paying tribute to Ms Guilliland in a recent statement to college members.

“Karen has always worked tirelessly and fiercely on behalf of midwifery and I recognise and admire her leadership, commitment and courage.

"There can be no question Karen has always wanted to ensure the best outcomes and supports for midwives, mothers and babies, and New Zealand College of Midwives members have been better off for this over the 28 years of her leadership in midwifery.”

The New Zealand College of Midwives’ governance body, its national committee, will shortly start a recruitment process to appoint a new chief executive.