From: David Hawkins
Email:
motivation@eclipse.co.uk
I thought your members may be interested in reading this list of items, which my late mother – pregnant with me – took with her on 27 June 1948, when she was admitted in labour to the Broken Hill Mine Hospital in the then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in south central Africa.
Reading the contents, I was amazed at the number of items, but I guess with many mothers remaining in hospital/the nursing home for up to ten days, it is hardly surprising that a huge amount of clothes would be needed. I smile at the ‘two baby blankets (pink and white)’, for of course mothers then did not have the choice of knowing the sex of their baby.
Formula milk company sponsorship
From: Sue Pearson, labour ward co-ordinator and supervisor of midwives
Email:
skpatmhc@aol.com
Recently I attended an excellent study day entitled ‘Your practice on trial’. The main speaker was Bond Solon’s trainer and medico-legal director Andrew Andrews. This study day was free for midwives to attend, which was great because obtaining funding for professional development is becoming increasingly difficult, and many midwives were there in their own time. The day was sponsored by a company, which manufactures infant formula milk.
Will this study day influence my practice and/or the practice of the midwives I supervise? Andrew Andrews’s emperies that documentation is an integral part of care-giving to women, their babies and families. Good documentation is at the centre of high-quality communication. Poor communication between midwives and the multidisciplinary team has long been a reason for sub-optimal care. So the answer to my question is ‘yes’ – hopefully documentation will improve.
Will the way I promote breastfeeding change? The answer is ‘no’. Our foundation Trust is working towards UNICEF’s ‘Baby friendly’ status – I feel though as if I have attended an underground illegal meeting. As Nick Clegg and David Cameron enter into a four-year coalition, is it not time for more tolerance and understanding, so midwives can make the most of exceptional opportunities to improve their practice?
Stepford midwives
From: Name and address supplied
Do midwives have to take a pill to help them work productively? I write this, as I am gravely concerned about the health and wellbeing of midwives. My unit has been the target of huge changes and faces closure. Many community midwives have been forced to adapt to working with a different style of practice as group practice midwives. Nearly 20% of staff have left and maternity’s sick absence record is apparently one of the worst of the Trust.
Change was forced upon many, and the implementation of change has been redesigned frequently over the last 18 months. Midwives are expected to work under extreme pressure covering all aspects of care. Their work has been commendable. Women have been provided with one-to-one care by compassionate midwives, who have been faced with risk issues and have worked above and beyond the call of duty.
I have been actively involved and an observer to these changes. I have worked for other organisations and I have been left appalled at how my midwifery colleagues have been treated and left to cope. If they voice their opinion, it is either ignored or put down. Our lead midwife has a vision and she is determined it will come to fruition, despite the staff loss and high sick record.
My own health has suffered and this has acted as a catalyst for me to investigate the effects of stress. Many colleagues have voiced their concerns to me, and some have disclosed that they are now taking antidepressants. The RCM has a Stress document, as does our NHS Trust. Both acknowledge that stress leads to both depression and ill health. The RCM document carries a TUC quote: ‘Stress will be the result if the workload is too large for the number of workers and the time available.’
It appears to me that targets are now more important than people. What happened to the saying ‘A happy ship is a productive ship’? Surely it is counter-productive for organisations looking to save money, to cut staff, this only adds to the pressure on remaining staff, causing stress, illness, and sick absence, then more cost to the NHS and the women and families we are caring for. What I would like to know is who cares for the carer and will we have to become pill popping Stepford midwives, in order to meet the demands of this understaffed, underfunded and mismanaged service?
Reference
RCM. (2008)
Stress. See:
http://www.rcm.org.uk/college/employment-relations/health-and-safety/stress/?locale=en (accessed 21 June 2010).
It’s a stressful world
From: Eleanor Copp, midwife and hypnotherapist
Email:
eleanor@relaxedparenting.co.uk
I work in a birth centre. The pressure can be huge as we work largely alone and we are also frequently full. I realise that every workplace is stretched to capacity and in some instances, midwives are reapplying for their own jobs. I wonder how long this can go on without obvious consequences to midwives’ health and wellbeing on a large scale?
Having trained as a hypnotherapist, I have been taught and now incorporate specific skills, which keep me calm, confident and focused. Simultaneously, I have learned to observe my body language and be alert to what I say and how, so that I impact on the couples and students I work with empathetically and positively. I also know though for a good proportion of my colleagues, the stress is too much and not having these tools means stress affects their behaviour for the worse.
I would like to ask what midwives use as their coping strategies and how they deal with the demands made of them? I would like to hear because the women and babies we are working for are receiving the full weight of our stress and while this is not our intention, it happens, unless we take deliberate steps to stop it. I know this because my private practice is busy with women who experienced being attended by staff who are described as ‘tired’, ‘curt’, ‘unsympathetic’, ‘inflexible’ and ‘bossy’. As an advocate of birthing mothers and equally a supportive colleague, I am keen to ensure that all midwives and students have techniques to cope. I look forward to hearing from you.
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by email to: emma.godfrey@redactive.co.uk or write to: Midwives at Redactive Media Group, 17-18 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP (The editor reserves the right to edit letters).
