Article: Marching with Midwives for a Better Tomorrow
By F.W.C 2022
On the 13th of March 2021, a stir in the midwifery world was made when more than 60 organized protest vigils sprung up around the UK, centred around NHS maternity service hotspots, demanding changes to the UK’s NHS maternity services. This movement was sparked by Paula Cleary over social media and quickly gained momentum as it spread throughout the maternity social networks.
In an interview with Paula Cleary, she stated that; “A steering group naturally evolved through conversations between concerned doulas and midwives.” From there, it has grown into a clear and recognized movement across the UK.
Their goal is to raise awareness of the current plight of UK midwives who are faced with extremely long hours and challenging working conditions. Many of the midwives who attended the vigil, and those who spoke out directly across social media, have claimed industry-wide burnout and mental breaking point for those in the profession.
In fact, it has gotten so bad that a recent survey done by the Royal College of Midwives shows that 60% of UK midwives are considering leaving the profession, and 57% said they planned to leave the NHS in the next year. The primary reason behind these decisions is due to inadequate staffing levels and many are unhappy with the quality and safety of care they are currently able to deliver under these conditions.
The issues and the discontent with the current standards, have only snowballed after David Cameron promised in his 2015 re-election, to increase midwife staffing levels. And in his own words claimed, “We are going to make our midwife's lives a lot easier… we will increase the number of midwives by 3,000.”
While attempts were made to reach this goal, only 2,000 new midwives were brought in. Furthermore, that doesn’t account for the steady flow of midwives leaving the profession, leaving a less-than-desirable stagnation of the issue at hand. Midwife working hours and conditions have also continued to decline, with many midwives saying its on a downward trend.
As Paula Cleary succinctly put it, “The issue isn’t that we're not getting new midwives in, it's that the government is doing a poor job plugging the hole of midwives getting out.” In short, while increasing midwife staffing levels is the overall goal, the first and primary duty should be to fix the stressful and dangerous working conditions for the already active midwives.
The March with Midwives Movement hopes to spark change through its highlighted manifesto, stating the required changes needed to make the maternity service safe and practical again. Among their demands are the following; LISTEN to all staff and service users and their advocates, FUND emergency retention, ENABLE anybody willing to work or train, REDUCE the demands on staff.
There is no denying the impact this movement is making, hopefully, it can move the cause forward, inciting real change in the UK’s NHS maternity services. With new allies joining the cause daily, many believe we are looking at a hopeful future.
References:
Cleary, P. (2022) ‘March with Midwives Movement’. Interview by Finn Cleary, personal log, 16th of May 2022.
Cleary, P. (2021) March With Midwives UK [Facebook]
Available at:https://www.facebook.com/marchwithmidwives/?ref=page_internal (Accessed 17th May 2022).
Royal College of Midwives (2021) RCM warns of midwife exodus as maternity staffing crisis grows. Available at: https://www.rcm.org.uk/media-releases/2021/september/rcm-warns-of-midwife-exodus-as-maternity-staffing-crisis-grows/ (Accessed: 17th May 2022).
Worrall. P 2015, ‘David Cameron’s broken promises’, Channel 4, 17th March 2015. Available at: https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-camerons-broken-promises (Accessed: 17th May 2022)
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