The chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has said the neglect of maternity services during the pandemic had a ‘significant impact’ on the mental wellbeing of midwives and caused tension between families and staff. Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), was giving evidence at the COVID-19 inquiry, highlighting the pressure and distress caused to maternity staff and the women in their care during the pandemic.
Ms Walton said that maternity services weren’t seen as an ‘essential’ service locally or nationally. ‘The focus was really on intensive care units, respiratory areas and emergency departments. Primarily, midwives, maternity support workers and the whole maternity team wanted to provide a high quality of care, safe care, [and] choice for women as they always did. They were very anxious and stressed not being able to do that, and disappointing and upsetting the women in their care.’
She warned about its lasting effect. ‘I don’t think it is over. I think it has impacted on midwives wanting to stay in the profession.’
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Ms Walton appeared as a witness to Module 3 of the COVID-19 inquiry on 7 October. She noted in her testimony that there was already a shortage of midwives, and this worsened during the pandemic, as many dual registered nurse-midwives were redeployed across other NHS services, such as intensive care units and gynaecology.
There were several restrictions placed on maternity services during the pandemic, including restrictions on visiting during appointments, scans and births, and restrictions on birth settings and pain relief. However, Ms Walton noted that the lack of clear guidelines and information from the NHS about change in rules ‘made the staff very anxious and they just about managed to get through day by day’.
Moving forward, Ms Walton urged the Government to see maternity services as ‘essential’. ‘If we don't get it [maternity care] right, it can very quickly go wrong and the outcomes, which I know you will have heard of, are absolutely devastating for the families.
‘So I absolutely believe that getting it right at the start of life, having maternity services prioritised in the NHS, is the right thing to do and is actually an investment in the future health of the population.’
The COVID-19 inquiry is currently taking evidence about the impact of the pandemic on the NHS and healthcare systems across all four nations of the UK. More than 50 witnesses are expected to appear before the panel, which runs until the end of November.