Wednesday, 19th January 2011
Commenting on the publication today of the Health and Social Care Bill, Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “We will be seeing again massive and profound changes in the way services are delivered. It will usher in a prolonged period of instability, coupled with the huge cost of the changes themselves, whilst soaking up the energy of the NHS and its staff. This comes at a time when the Government is requiring £20 billion of ‘efficiency savings’ from the NHS, and as maternity services face ever increasing demands. The two things seem profoundly incompatible.
“The Bill leaves us in the dark about what the Government’s proposed maternity networks will look like. I strongly support this idea in theory but we remain short on detail and this Bill offers nothing that makes this any clearer.
“We also remain very disappointed that the Government did a u-turn on their own policy to keep commissioning of maternity services outside of the control of GP consortia. None the less, we will be working with the Government to ensure that GP commissioning delivers good quality and safe care for women.
“The RCM’s concern is always to ensure that women receive the best possible maternity care, and we will work to promote the highest quality services in difficult times.”
For more information contact the RCM Press Office on 020 7312 3456, pressofficer@rcm.org.uk.
Notes to editors
The Royal College of Midwives is the voice of midwifery. We are the UK’s only trade union and professional organisation led by midwives for midwives. The vast majority of the midwifery profession are our members. The RCM promotes midwifery, quality maternity services and professional standards. We support and represent our members individually and collectively in all four UK countries. We influence on behalf of our members and for the interests of the women and families for which they care. For more information visit the RCM website at www.rcm.org.uk.
