Caring for midwifery staff will ensure better care for women

On 1 June 2016, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) launched our new campaign, Caring for You, with the aim of improving RCM members' health, safety and wellbeing at work so they are able to provide high-quality maternity care for women and their families.

The birth rate has been rising steadily for years, and added to this maternity units are handling more complex cases. This means that midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) are working ever harder, and increasingly facing difficult issues. Maternity services in the UK have been running on goodwill for years. The service is reliant on midwives and MSWs working through their breaks and well beyond their hours to provide safe care for women.

Increased pressure and demands have a significant effect on the health, safety and wellbeing of midwives and MSWs. RCM members are reporting that they are feeling stressed, burned out and unable to give high-quality care to women and families. While there is a high level of camaraderie in maternity units, there are also many reports of bullying and undermining behaviours. We believe nobody should be harmed when caring for others.