Happy New Year!
I realise January is almost at its end but I haven’t posted for a while. Things have been pretty hectic with work, family, life in general. But so far, 2017 is kicking 2016’s ass!
So I turn 30 this year (I know, I know, I’m still in denial!) and I had been thinking about having a big shindig to celebrate. However, I thought it would be nicer to have a charity ceilidh instead. So I’ve been busy venue viewing, ticket and advert creating, band booking and menu planning since the end of last year. Thankfully, I now have the main details pinned down and can start selling my tickets! I’m so excited!
I have decided to raise money for two charities. The first one is the Doula UK Access Fund. This is a fund that enables vulnerable women to use the services of a doula. The second charity is the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. This is a cause quite close to me as one of my relatives has a child affected by cystic fibrosis. The trust is continuously looking for a cure and always working on ways to minimise the symptoms. I contacted both charities to see if they had any information leaflets they could provide for the event. They have been amazing. Not only have they sent leaflets, I also have balloons, badges, banners etc! Anyway, that’s all happening on the 14th April so I’ll have to work my toosh off making sure I sell enough tickets.
My next awesome news is that I’m booked on a doula workshop at the end of April! (It’s going to be a busy month!) I’ve been looking over the reading list and wow! I have a lot of reading to work my way through! Although I was a little pleased that I already have some of the books so that should help. I can’t wait to get started. The whole ethos of the course feels like just what I’m looking for.
On to a slightly weighty topic now (sorry for the change in tempo but I have a lot I want to talk about). For those of you who aren’t aware, the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) have recently made the decision that the private indemnity insurance used by IMUK (Independent Midwives UK) for their members, is no longer adequate. This means that the independent midwives have had to immediately cease providing midwifery care during childbirth, leaving hundreds of women to find last minute alternative care for their births.
Women choose to have an independent midwife for a variety of reasons. They may have felt let down with a lack of continuity of midwife in a previous labour. They might be looking for a home birth and their local health trust may not be able to facilitate that choice. They might have had a previous traumatic delivery and feel they need complete one on one support. Whatever the reason, women have the right to a choice. A choice in their place of birth. A choice in how they are treated. A choice in what happens to their body. A choice in what happens to their baby.
When you look at some of the decisions the NMC have made recently in relation to midwifery practice, then it would seem that women’s choice is not too if their agenda.
1. Going forward, there will be no midwives on the the NMC which regulates the role and sets standards by which midwives are judged. This means that midwives will be required to work to a set of standards which are set for an entirely different profession.
2. In March this year, the role of Supervisor of Midwives (SoM) will cease to exist. They will be replaced by managers who are unable to go against health board policies. SoMs had the capacity to act as a mediator between women and health boards. For example, if a woman has been recommend to have an induction by her doctor but she doesn’t wish to have one, an SoM can make sure the woman is fully informed about all the risks and benefits of her choices and is able to negotiate around strict hospital policies. Something which the managers will not be able to do.
3. Legislation is currently being put in place to protect the role of the midwife…….. “Well that’s good, isn’t it?” I hear you cry. Not really. It will only protect the role in assisting during childbirth. Not with antenatal and postnatal care. This means NHS trusts won’t be required to provide a midwife for antenatal and postnatal care. Midwives typically work in a higher pay bracket than nurses due to their requirement to administer certain drugs during childbirth. Will these trusts keep paying for midwives when they can use nurses and save some money?
So really, at the moment, it feels like the NMC is now just the NC, governing over a role entirely different to nursing. Surely a completely separate and independent board should be set up for midwifery? A board of midwives for midwives?
Unfortunately, women’s choice in childbirth will continue to be restricted until the women who use the services begin to speak up and demand choice. The way I see it, as things currently are, most women are not aware of the choices available to them unless they have been through a 3 year Midwifery Degree Course or in depth antenatal classes. This is one of the reasons I am keen to work and perhaps specialise as an antenatal doula, and run birth education classes. I am passionate about raising awareness of choice in childbirth so watch this space!
C x
Doula la 
Well said! I would just add that good quality research shows that having a midwife in from pregnancy, labour and into the postnatal period radically improves outcomes for both mums and babies, and that if there is continuity of carer, ie the same midwife there to care for the mother through the pregnancy, attend the birth, and support afterwards, these outcomes further improve (in fact, if a drug had these rates of improvement, from less stillbirth, miscarriage, preterm birth, sick babies, shorter labours, more satisfactory births) it would be unethical not to provide the drug.
Secondly, IMs support women, they will attend homebirth but also they will be there with women if the women chooses a hospital birth or a section. And the NMC have made it impossible for IMs to even be present at any births right now, regardless of where that is.
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