Forging links and making progress

By Helen Rogers, director of the RCM UK Board for Wales.

Post-election political activity
RCM head of policy Sean O’Sullivan and I met with the newly appointed minister for health and social services, Lesley Griffiths. It was a good time to remind her what a valuable role midwives play in providing safe, effective services. We discussed a number of issues including NHS reconfigurations, neonatal services, the review of HEIs, the All Wales maternity strategy and the need to ensure that there are sufficient midwife numbers. We welcomed the fact that the minister intends to hold a debate
on maternity services soon.

RCM public affairs officer Stuart Bonar and I also met with Andrew RT Davies, the new Welsh Conservative leader. We discussed our concerns around midwifery staffing levels, particularly in light of recent figures that suggest there has been a 10% reduction in the number of midwives since 2008 and the birth rate has increased by 2.9% since 2009. There has also been an increase in the number of women requiring more complex care. This supports our view that more midwives are required and that the number of training places should be increased next year.

Maternity strategy
The All Wales Implementation Group has now been established, along with a number of working groups, which will be key in making sure that the strategy is properly implemented. The RCM is fully involved in this and I will be chairing the group looking at ensuring the midwife is the first point of contact for all pregnant women.

On-call negotiations
Julia Chandler, national officer, has been leading on on-call negotiations for the RCM UK Board for Wales since the beginning of the year. Good progress has been made and we are now in the process of obtaining members’ views on what we believe to be a reasonable offer.