Dr. Laura Chapman:

I will try to answer briefly because I am sure Dr. McLaren and Dr. Allcroft will have other things to say.

In New Zealand, with the medication, the patient gets to choose. For a patient who chooses all medication, I would take a back-up intravenous option with me on the day of delivery. Our legislation allows us to do that. If I take intravenous medication, I would take a second set of intravenous drugs in case there is any difficulty. Our process has built-in back-up options for medication.

New Zealand's legislation very cleverly has a three-year review built into it. In November this year, our legislation will be reviewed because that was part of the original law. Is a referendum useful? I do not know the answer to that. Obviously, Ireland has experience with referendums. What is really important is that this is a major social change, as well as a clinical change, and the discussion that a referendum engenders is important. The most important thing is that people feel informed and supported and that it is not a threat to their existence and their relationship with doctors.

As a doctor, I know I hold a very privileged position of being trusted by people. They impart information to me and anything that threatens that is a major threat to our national healthcare system. Therefore, that is where I think the referendum for us has been beneficial. It is about taking the majority of people with us and, as both Dr. Allcroft and Dr. McLaren said, making sure the view of colleagues and the public who do not believe in the legislation is protected and enabled. That is why I got involved in the start. I was so concerned about my juniors - I do a lot of educational leadership - and about their role if they had a senior doctor who believed and how we would enable them to conscientiously object and step away from the person they are relying on for a reference. Therefore, the dynamic around it is really important both within the provider and healthcare staff and the public. That is the bit the referendum has definitely helped with, but there are other ways to address that.