RCM pleads with NHS to protect pregnant women during pandemic

By Q Radio News

The Royal College of Midwives is pleading with NHS bosses to protect pregnant women during the fight against COVID-19.  

Members want to see maternity services ringfenced amid fears that vital staff, including maternity support workers, will be redeployed. 

RCM chief executive Gill Walton is warning that the shortage of midwives on maternity wards across the UK has doubled since the outbreak began.

Those who responded to the survey reported one in five midwife posts are now vacant.  

The survey of heads and directors of midwifery from across the UK, carried out by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), found that, even before the outbreak, services were struggling to get by with almost one in 10 midwifery posts vacant.

Chief executive of the RCM Gill Walton says maternity units are unable to adapt in the same way other areas of the health service can.  

"Women are still pregnant, still having babies, and they need the care and support of properly resourced maternity services," she said. 

"We have to ensure that midwives and maternity support workers are ring-fenced from any redeployment to ensure that women continue to receive safe care.

“What this survey shows is that coronavirus is exposing the gaps that already exist in maternity services. The shortage of midwives has doubled since the start of the outbreak, a situation which is only likely to worsen as the pandemic spreads further.”

A total of 22% of survey respondents also reported that local midwife-led maternity units had been closed, with more than a third (36%) of areas also either stopping (32%) or restricting (4%) home-births.

In 11 cases the midwife-led unit has been closed to provide facilities to assess or care for coronavirus patients.

Almost eight out of 10 midwifery leaders (78%) reported ending routine face-to-face antenatal and postnatal visits, with a further nine per cent restricting just face-to-face postnatal visits.

Heads and directors of midwifery reported confusion about what should happen to midwives with long-term health conditions or who live with someone with conditions that put them at greater risk, and the impact their self-isolation would have on staff shortages.

“We have to protect the maternity front door and continue to provide the levels of care and support pregnant women need," Ms Walton said. 

"We need to do all we can to make sure the maternity workforce is kept well and healthy as much as possible.

"The testing of NHS staff is an urgent priority.”