The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has today called on Health Secretary Steve Barclay to meet with frontline maternity staff to help him understand their frustration. The call comes a day after a ballot for industrial action among midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) in England fell agonisingly short of the Government-imposed turnout threshold.

In an open letter to Mr Barclay, RCM General Secretary Gill Walton underlined the multiple challenges facing maternity services and reiterated the RCM’s determination to be part of the solution. However, the letter was tinged with frustration at the lack of focus by Mr Barclay and his predecessors to the growing crisis.

The RCM General Secretary wrote: “We are entirely focused on what it takes to deliver safe maternity care and we are committed to your manifesto promise to make the UK the best place in the world to give birth. We are saddened that none of your predecessors since Jeremy Hunt has found time to meet with us and discuss what it takes to improve maternity care. We wonder whether this indicates the regard in which the Government holds midwives and midwifery?”

In the ballot on industrial action, which closed on Monday (12 December), more than nine out of 10 (94.1%) midwives and MSWs voted to take industrial action. However, despite this number passing the required 40% to take action, turnout was just below the 50% threshold demanded by legislation. The RCM has pledged to continue to fight for better terms and conditions for its members – and to secure investment in maternity services to benefit women and families across the country.

Gill Walton, Chief Executive of the RCM, said: “Midwives and MSWs are at their wits’ end, and many of them are already leaving the service. Since the last election midwife numbers have gone down by 600. Staff feel undervalued and taken for granted, and a pay award of just 4% for most midwives has done nothing to halt this. Getting this close to threshold will be deeply frustrating for many of our members, but it is absolutely not the end of our fight to get a decent deal for midwives and MSWs.

“That is why I am inviting Steve Barclay to join me in any maternity service in the country, wherever he chooses. He needs to hear direct from dedicated midwives and maternity support workers who are skipping breaks and working way beyond their hours, often without being paid, to provide the care that women and babies need. He needs to see beyond the statistics to meet the people the impact of a lack of any action by him and his predecessors really means.”

ENDS  

To contact the RCM Media Office call 020 7312 3456, or email media@rcm.org.uk.

Notes to Editor  

See also:

• Midwives in Wales vote yes to industrial action (rcm.org.uk)
• RCM urges members in England and Wales to vote YES to industrial action as ballot date announced.
• RCM urges midwives to vote yes to industrial action as England and Wales pay ballot opens
• Northern Ireland Government must ‘get its act together’ on pay says RCM say
• RCM to consult its members on the latest Scottish Government pay offer
• Scotland’s midwives vote yes to industrial action over pay (rcm.org.uk)
• Northern Ireland Government must ‘get its act together’ on pay says RCM say

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is the only trade union and professional association dedicated to serving midwifery and the whole midwifery team.  We provide workplace advice and support, professional and clinical guidance, and information, and learning opportunities with our broad range of events, conferences, and online resources. For more information visit the RCM | A professional organisation and trade union dedicated to serving the whole midwifery team.

The open letter to the Secretary of State reads:

Dear Secretary of State,

You will know that maternity services in England are in crisis, with an exodus of midwives and the impact of years of underinvestment evidenced by recent reports into systemic failings in Shrewsbury and East Kent. I hope you will recognise that the RCM has tried at all times to be part of the solution, supporting our members to be able to give of their best every day.

We have long argued that pay, retention and safe staffing are inextricably linked, and I wrote to you about this and the 2022 pay award in October. In our industrial action ballot, just completed, we met the threshold for 40% of eligible members, voting to take action, but just failed to meet the threshold of 50% turn out. In fact, 88.4% of members who voted signaled their willingness to take strike action and 94.1% to take action short of strike.

This strength of feeling cannot be underestimated. Midwives and support workers are not accustomed to industrial action, it is in their DNA to put women’s needs above their own. That so many responded to our ballot and spoke so very clearly speaks volumes. The very latest official workforce figures from NHS Digital show that there are now around 600 fewer NHS midwives in England than there were in December 2019, at the time of the last UK General Election. Additionally, the Government in the Treasury documents underpinning the Autumn Statement set the target of an additional 2,000 NHS midwives in England, accepting that the workforce is clearly understaffed.

We are entirely focused on what it takes to deliver safe maternity care and we are committed to your manifesto promise to make the UK the best place in the world to give birth. We are saddened that none of your predecessors since Jeremy Hunt has found time to meet with me one to one and discuss what it takes to improve maternity care. We wonder whether this indicates the regard in which the Government holds midwives and midwifery?

Our door is always open to discuss safety, pay and additional retention measures. The RCM is ready, at any time, to discuss this issue with you and your government. We think it would be really helpful to bring midwives from the front line to meet you, so that you can hear first hand their experience of working in short-staffed units, of the financial hardship many are now facing and the reasons they see their colleagues walking away from the profession they love. Your team can contact me at any time gill.walton@rcm.org.uk.

I look forward to hearing from you