‘RCM responds to Conservative Party Manifesto’
By ‘RCM responds to Conservative Party Manifesto’ on 26 November 2019 RCM NHS Staff Midwives MSWs - Maternity Support Workers Pregnancy Student midwives SMF - Student Midwives Forum Midwifery Midwife Training Newly Qualified Midwives NHS Brexit
The Conservative party have published their manifesto for the upcoming 2019 General Election.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have welcomed the Conservatives commitment to make the ‘NHS the best place in the world to give birth’.
Responding, Jon Skewes, Executive Director for External Relations at the RCM said; “The RCM is pleased to see a commitment to recruit more much needed healthcare professionals to staff our NHS, including midwives. As its stands we remain 2,500 midwives short in England alone and maternity services are under as much pressure as ever before.
“We really welcome the pledge by the Conservative Party to make ‘The NHS the best place in the world to give birth’ and ensuring we have enough midwives to deliver safe high-quality care to women in their families can really make this vison a reality. Midwives are now seeing more women with increasingly complex health conditions and having enough midwives to deliver personalised care and specialist midwives to meet needs of pregnant women is something the RCM has called for in its own manifesto.
“The commitment of a five to eight-thousand-pound annual maintenance grant every year for student midwives and nurses is welcome. We know how much financial pressure our student midwives are under since the removal of the training bursary in 2017 and the impact that is having on potential students who no longer see midwifery as attractive career due to the financial costs it entails to now train. The Government needs to be doing all it can to make working in the NHS as attractive as possible, but with the current system and the removal of the bursary its making student midwives think about leaving before they have even began their midwifery careers. That said its reassuring that the Conservative party’s commitment train an additional 3,000 more midwives has already begun since last year.
“On the potential impact of Brexit on the NHS workforce and immigration, the RCM is concerned about Conservative plans to enforce higher costing visas, anything that does not support straight forward access to the UK as a workplace, particularly for EU nationals could be damaging to the NHS workforce. Currently we have many midwives from the EU who provide care for tens of thousands of women every year to lose them would be detrimental to already overstretched maternity services. If Brexit does happen it will no doubt be harder for the NHS to recruit healthcare professionals from outside the UK than it is now.”
ENDS
To contact the RCM Media Office call 020 7312 3456, or email media@rcm.org.uk.
The 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 website at https://www.rcm.org.uk/.
ENDS
To contact the RCM Media Office call 020 7312 3456, or email media@rcm.org.uk.
The 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 website at https://www.rcm.org.uk/.