The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is calling on the UK’s four governments to heed the advice of the World Health Organisation and invest in healthy beginnings to build hopeful futures. With investment in maternity care across all four UK nations in the doldrums, the RCM is urging politicians to change tack.
The RCM has made the call on World Health Day (7 April), the theme for which is ‘Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures’.
The College argues that vital public health interventions are made by midwives everyday across the UK that undoubtedly have a positive influence on the future health of both mother and baby.
The RCM says if the governments in Westminster, Holyrood, Cardiff and Stormont can ensure a healthy future for families and communities but potentially save the NHS millions of pounds if they support maternity staff and services to get the health of mothers and babies right.
Commenting, the RCM’s Chief Executive, Gill Walton, said:
“For many women, their first pregnancy acts like the front door to the NHS. Up until that point they may only have had minimum interaction with health services, but maternity services can unlock access to all sorts of supportive and preventative care, from weight management to smoking cessation and beyond.”
“The role midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) play in improving maternal and newborn health cannot be underestimated.”
“Our members provide comprehensive care throughout pregnancy, labour, birth, and the postpartum period – and that care should receive proper investment.
“Ensuring we have enough midwives and maternity staff to deliver high quality personalised care is a lifelong investment in the future health and wellbeing of a women and their families. If we can get this care right, we have a huge opportunity to change the health trajectory of communities across the UK. That’s why ensuring we have enough midwives and really supporting them, investing in services now could save the NHS millions of pounds in the future. The RCM has long said midwives are the best buy in public health, because the care, interventions and support midwives can offer women during a woman’s pregnancy can have lifelong positive health benefits for both mother and baby.”
The RCM has long said pregnancy should be viewed as a prime opportunity to make public health interventions that can change the long-term health of a woman. Midwives are also ideally placed to anticipate and recognise any changes that may lead to complications during pregnancy, or the post-partum period working to prevent them and promote positive outcomes. That’s why it’s so important we have enough midwives, and they have enough time with women to enable them listen to their concerns so that they can support and advice or refer them to more special services when needed.
Gill added: “We absolutely support the WHO’s calls for governments to invest in women’s healthcare: it’s a call the RCM has made itself. Women’s healthcare has been overlooked and underfunded for far too long. We have recently written to the Government asking them to commit to measures to address the stark inequalities in health outcomes, including maternal deaths, stillbirth and premature births, particularly for women from the global majority. Governments across the UK have stated their commitment to prioritise women’s health and all we are asking them is to honour and act on.
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