March with Midwives Manifesto 2022
Click to read the manifesto in full (.docx), which includes references. Key excerpts below:
"Radical action and crisis management measures are required IMMEDIATELY.
Maternity services are critically unsafe for staff and users
• On July 25th 2022, the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s Expert Panel declared there is “no credible government strategy to tackle the situation” in maternity care
• After a consultation in which 75% of respondent midwives and maternity support workers asked to be balloted, the Royal College of Midwives will be balloting in Scotland, England, and Wales on industrial action this Autumn
• 60% of UK midwives surveyed in 2021 were considering leaving the profession
• 57% said they have plans to leave the NHS in the next year
• More than 80% of those planning to leave cited inadequate staffing levels and more than 67% said they were unhappy with the quality and safety of care they are currently able to deliver
• In 2018 The RCM estimated the UK was short over 3,500 midwives
• Between April 2021 and April 2022, England has lost around 600 midwives - midwife numbers have fallen in every single region in England
Midwives demand more time, more money and more autonomy
‘Midwives Voices, Midwives Demands’, White Ribbon Alliance 2021
The March With Midwives movement declare that we must:
LISTEN Listen to parents and maternity staff
FUND Fund increased maternity staffing
ENABLE Enable improved maternity care
REDUCE Reduce the demands on maternity staff
ACT Act immediately to save maternity services
1. LISTEN: The Government must accept the Health and Social Care committee recommendation to increase resources across the NHS and set out a workforce plan with measures to increase retention and support staff
2. FUND: An immediate appropriate, restorative pay rise for midwives that reflects the value society places on their vital work. Award recruitment and retention payments to new entrants and existing staff. Provide financial support for student midwives and create posts for all newly qualified midwives.
3. ENABLE: The government must renew their commitment to implementing the recent Women’s’ Health Strategy by being ambitious in their approach to improving the quality and accessibility of service and information around women’s health.
4. REDUCE: An immediate review and reduction of the administrative responsibilities of midwives, including the requirement for duplication of data from or within the medical record.
5. ACT: Unions representing midwives must enact and support radical industrial action to ensure that we hold our government to account and protect midwives and the families they serve"
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