When we were told earlier this year that NHS England (NHSE) was planning to develop a new strategy for nursing and midwifery, I was hopeful. Maternity care – and midwifery as a fundamental part of that – has never been under greater scrutiny, or greater pressure. Having a strategy which underpins and enhances the value – the evidence-based value – of midwifery could only help the profession.
Sadly, as the consultation was published, it became clear that the draft strategy was heavily skewed towards nursing, with midwifery tacked on as an afterthought. Midwifery deserves more.
Yesterday, I wrote to the Chief Midwifery Officer (CMidO) for England, Kate Brintworth, and Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), Duncan Burton, to express our disappointment and explain why we have not participated in the consultation.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but the more we looked – and the more we heard the frustration of midwives, including at last week’s CNO Summit – we knew that we couldn’t, in good conscience, submit a formal response to the consultation. Doing so could be misconstrued as assent to the current direction of travel, and we absolutely do not assent.
I have lost count over my career of how many times I’ve had to explain – whether to politicians, policy-makers, NHS staff or the public – that midwifery isn’t a branch of nursing. Midwives are autonomous practitioners and our title is protected by legislation. Midwifery is complex, multifaceted and essential in supporting women and families.
For the avoidance of doubt, we strongly advocate for a separate professional strategy for midwifery, one that is aligned with wider developments in maternity care and reflective of the specific challenges and opportunities facing our profession. This would allow for a more targeted approach to education, leadership, and workforce development, and ensure parity with nursing in strategic planning.
The current approach risks diluting the unique contribution of midwives, compartmentalising our profession from wider strategic decisions within the NHS, and missing a critical opportunity to set a clear direction for midwifery in England. With a 10-year NHS plan, a forthcoming workforce plan and an incoming national maternity and neonatal taskforce, there has never been a more important time to develop a dedicated midwifery strategy. Simply tacking on ‘and midwifery’ to what is, to all intents and purposes, a strategy for nursing is unacceptable.
To find ourselves here is hugely disappointing. We could not be clearer in every meeting, at every conference, in every email, of the appetite for a clear strategy for midwifery which will help build pride in the profession and help us deliver the safe, trusted care each and every one of us wants to provide and support.
In my letter to Kate and Duncan, I have asked them both to stand with us in urging the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to recognise midwifery as a profession with its own strategic needs, leadership structures, and workforce challenges, not as an adjunct to nursing.
Because midwifery – and the women and families all of us work so hard to support – deserves more.
