Our new parliamentary panel will launch on 23 November at an event in the Jubilee Room of the House of Commons. We are pleased that we have already secured the support of many MPs from across the political divide, who are already tabling questions and speaking up for midwives.
This event follows the huge success of our drop-in session for MPs, which was held in parliament in July. The event was overrun with MPs, who came to speak with frontline midwives, who were there attending to talk to parliamentarians about the realities of working in today’s NHS.
We are currently working on building up our support in the House of Lords too, and hope that peers from all parties and no party (the independent crossbenchers who hold the balance of power in the upper house) come along too.
At the event we will also be launching our first annual
State of maternity services report. This will outline the big challenges facing maternity services, such as the continuing baby boom and how well the NHS is responding, by setting out for example, how many midwives are in post. It will take a long view, looking back at how demands have changed over recent years (such as the long-term ageing of mothers) as well as separately looking at each part of the UK – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Thousands of people have now signed the RCM petition for more NHS midwives. The petition calls on the government to recruit an extra 5000 midwives into the NHS in England, where the staffing shortage is the greatest after a decade-long baby boom.
At the time of writing, more than 15,000 people have signed up, but we need a colossal 100,000 signatures if we are to force MPs to debate the issue in parliament. You can sign online at:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/13716, if you have not already done so. Please also share this link with friends, family and colleagues, including on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
The Health and Social Care Bill continues to make progress. The RCM worked hard to see it delayed or even stopped, but it survives. We will endeavour, during the remaining stages of its passage, to secure reassurances on key parts that concern us the most. The RCM remains worried about the implications of the reforms for the future of the NHS, but our efforts and the efforts of all campaigning unions and other organisations have so far, unfortunately, failed to derail the Bill.
For all updates on what the RCM and the chief executive Cathy Warwick are saying and doing as part of our political lobbying often appear on the RCM Communities site first, so please be sure to visit:
http://communities.rcm.org.uk and, if you are not already a member, join our professional networking site and contribute to the debate.
Stuart Bonar is the RCM public affairs officer.
