Responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement that NHS England is to be scrapped with management of health service returning to Government, the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) Chief Executive, Gill Walton, said:

“Both the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary have said that abolishing NHS England will put more money into frontline services. Every midwife and maternity support worker will wholeheartedly applaud that sentiment, but many will also be fearful that another top-down restructure of the NHS will take the necessary eyes off the ball when it comes to maternity safety. For far too long our members in England have been working in a service that has not supported them to deliver the best maternity care that they know they can, this undoubtedly impacts of the experience and outcomes of women using maternity services in England. Today the Secretary for Health and Social Care has himself acknowledged that the current system is setting staff up to fail, so we all need to work together, with urgency, to improve the safety and equality issues blighting maternity services in England. In the meantime, we will be supporting RCM members working at NHS England during this period of transition.”