Royal College to challenge cuts to Plymouth midwives
Lauren Higgs
Friday, June 24, 2011
Women and children in Plymouth will miss out on vital support if plans to cut midwifery jobs and community midwives' hours are approved, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has warned.
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is planning to cut a number of midwifery posts including an infant feeding co-ordinator, with up to nine midwifery jobs set to go.
The trust also plans to cut 63 community midwives’ hours by four hours per week. This equates to losing nearly seven midwives who provide homebirth, antenatal and postnatal care in the region.
The number of midwifery community team leaders could fall from six to four and the hours of a child safeguarding midwife may be reduced by half.
Meanwhile, the number of community teams will be reduced from four to six meaning they will have to cover a much bigger geographical area and will be less accessible for women.
Pat Darvill, the RCM’s regional officer for the South West, said the plans put key frontline provision at risk.
"We are not against change and efficiencies, but they have to improve the service women receive," she said.
"These proposed changes will not do that and I have real fears that the level and quality of the service for women will worsen. It will mean less choice for women because fewer midwives will have to do the same amount of work."
She said that RCM would challenge the "short-sighted" proposals because the area’s birth rate is rising and births are becoming more complex.
"There is a well-used homebirth service provided by the community midwives and there will be many women out there expecting a homebirth service," she said. "These plans mean they may simply not get one along with the other key services that the midwives provide."
But Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust's chief nurse Professor Sarah Watson-Fisher said the plans have been put together by local clinicians and senior midwives, who have made sure the proposals are both safe and cost-effective.
"Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust has just begun consultation with our staff and their union representatives on reducing the number of posts in our organisation by 281 whole time equivalents," she said.
"We want to be very clear that we do not intend to lose 281 people. There are currently 250 vacancies within the organisation ready to redeploy people into. Compulsory redundancy is the absolute last result.
"Our priority is to provide safe and effective care to our patients, including mums, their babies and mums-to-be."
