Tackling the challenges ahead for our maternity services
The Royal College of Midwives
Following publication of its manifesto, the Royal College of Midwives sets out what the key challenges are for maternity services and the ideas they are asking parliamentary candidates to support in response to them.
Several big challenges are now bearing down on our maternity services and, over the lifetime of the next Parliament, the Government will need to act to address them. Here, in our manifesto for the General Election on 8th June, the Royal College of Midwives sets out both what those challenges are and the ideas we are asking parliamentary candidates to support in response to them.
Securing better outcomes for women
All parties rightly want better healthcare, with improved choice, quality and safety – so does the RCM. The problem is that the NHS is short of money, with its budget rising far slower than previously.
The NHS needs more money, which is why the RCM is asking candidates if they support additional funds for our maternity services.
Improving public health
Pregnancy is the perfect opportunity for women to make decisions about their life that improve their own health, and give their baby the best possible start too. Around one in eight women at their first antenatal appointment are recorded as smokers, for example, and pregnancy gives them an excellent reason to quit. And encouraging breastfeeding will help give their baby the perfect nutritional start.
Midwives can help women make the right choices to improve their health, so the RCM is asking candidates if they support extra funding specifically for improving public health (to which midwives and maternity services are absolutely fundamental).
Eliminating the national shortage of midwives
A big challenge in delivering better care is the national shortage of midwives. The NHS in England is short of midwives, and our most recent estimate is that the service needs around 3,500 more. Despite this, the size of the NHS midwifery workforce has risen by just 79 over the last 12 months – that is less than one extra midwife per maternity unit. And this is despite the fact that the number of babies born is on the up, with around 100,000 more births per year than was the case back in 2001.
The RCM is asking parliamentary candidates if they will speak up in Parliament for the need for more midwives.
Remaining open to European midwives
Over 1,300 midwives working in the NHS in England are nationals of other EU member states. Without them, the national midwife shortage would be approaching 5,000. The problem they face is that their right to remain in the UK post-Brexit is in doubt. Right now, they have no guarantees that they will be able to stay.
The RCM is asking candidates if they support giving EU midwives working in the NHS the right to remain post-Brexit. And we are also asking if they back us in wanting the door to remain open to qualified EU midwives to come and work in the NHS in the future.
Fair pay for NHS midwives and maternity support workers
Finally, we are asking candidates about NHS pay. Right now, the pay of NHS midwives is rising more slowly than inflation, which means that midwives can afford less and less with the money they bring home. In fact, if their pay had risen just at the rate of inflation since 2010, midwives would today earn £6,000 more than they actually do.
Not only is paying midwives a decent wage the right thing to do, it is necessary to tackle the shortage and thereby improve the care received by women and their babies. And it is for that reason that we are asking candidates if they will support taking the setting of NHS pay out of the hands of politicians and into the hands of the independent NHS pay review body (PRB). That means lifting the cap on what the PRB can recommend and implementing their recommendations in full.
Big decisions about the future of the country will be made by the new Parliament, including big decisions about the National Health Service.
The RCM has identified the key challenges for our maternity services and how we would like MPs to respond. We look forward to working with those from across the political spectrum elected on 8th June in tackling these challenges in the years ahead.
You can read the RCM key manifesto asks here
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