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Midwives' working conditions

The current issue of “The Practising Midwife” contains an interesting report on the pay negotiations being undertaken by the Royal College of Midwives on behalf of midwives across the UK. The message from the RCM is that if you pay midwives more, they will stay in work. I don’t think this is the real issue at all. I have written to the Editor in an effort to get this issue on the table:

Dear Editor,

The suggestion being made by the Royal College of Midwives that higher pay rates will result in more midwives either staying in their posts or returning to work ( Practising Midwife October 2002) is only a small part of the story. As I travel around the UK presenting workshops, I hear many stories from midwives that clearly indicate that it is working conditions that is the real issue.

Midwives tell me they want flexible working hours, more part time work and more family friendly shifts. However, what they find intolerable and frustrating is not being able to practice their midwifery skills and are dismayed by the resultant poor care that women are receiving. It is a Catch 22 situation: the rising rates of interventions are leading to a loss of midwifery skills and as midwives resign in disgust or despair, the shortages of staff are forcing those left to work as nurses, rather than midwives.

The Royal College of Midwives should address these issues as well as pay rates. I note that those hospitals that do have good team or caseload practices, midwifery-led units and high home birth rates have few vacancies compared with the centralised, high tech units. Perhaps training courses for Midwifery Managers, more direct talks with employers (Trusts, PCT etc) and Government would help to highlight these problems.

I fear that midwifery in the UK is in rapid decline, and that unless these basic issues are tacked, midwifery, in its traditional form, is likely to disappear.

Andrea Robertson

Not sure if they will print it and I will be interested to see if anything results. Perhaps I need to write an article about this.... “observations of a visiting Aussie workshop facilitator”!

Posted by andrea at October 25, 2002 05:55 PM

Comments

I hope they do print this letter but i suspect they wont. Managers are fearful of letting women work the hours necessery to achieve a work life balance that is acceptable and does not cause undue stress to themselves their families and service provision. I am trawling the internet at the moment to find information to back up my argument that the impossion of certain shift patterns is causing myself and my family stress. I am also seeking to leave the less than caring environment in which we are expected to work.

Posted by: sue atkins on January 1, 2003 02:01 AM

Comments

I hope they do print this letter but i suspect they wont. Managers are fearful of letting women work the hours necessery to achieve a work life balance that is acceptable and does not cause undue stress to themselves their families and service provision. I am trawling the internet at the moment to find information to back up my argument that the impossion of certain shift patterns is causing myself and my family stress. I am also seeking to leave the less than caring environment in which we are expected to work.

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