Minister refuses to back down on pension reforms at conference

Following her address at the conference in Brighton, she was grilled by midwives in a questions and answer session.

One audience member said the RCM was not balloting on pension strikes because midwives would not put lives of mothers and babies on the line.

But went on to question why midwives should have to pay for government overspending through increased NHS pension contributions.

Mrs Milton said: ‘We could have a long discussion about how we got into the economic situation we are in today.’

She continued: ‘Probably action on pensions should have been taken a long time ago – I don’t think anybody wanted to make the difficult decision.

‘The amount of money available isn’t up for discussion. We are where we are and we’ve got to take responsible decisions for the future.’

The Q&A session followed her morning address, in which she talked about issues facing midwifery and the government’s planned NHS overhaul.

‘The new system gives us the opportunity… for patients to be able to choose the services that are right for them,’ she said.    

‘We want to give women more say and have as many women as possible giving birth where they feel most comfortable.’

She said in doing so access, location, and type of delivery are vital factors that need to be considered.

She went on to claim that the cost of the new bill had been exaggerated and was not as high as £3bn, but will cost £1.2 to 1.3bn.

The government says that money saved by the bill will be pumped into frontline services, in a bid to improve health care.

However, when questioned on whether midwives themselves would see this money impacting on frontline delivery, Mrs Milton evaded the question.

‘I honestly think this is a real opportunity,’ she said. ‘I think commissioning in the NHS is a dry subject, but something that makes a big difference in the end.’