A third lockdown however is resulting in maternity services facing enormous pressures, with staff shortages worsening through illness or the need to self-isolate. There is no question that midwives and MSWs are resilient and dedicated professionals, but the pandemic has pushed them to the limit.

In these most challenging of circumstances, the RCM is doing all that it can to give members as much support as possible, as quickly as possible. Staff have been anxious – and understandably so - about the risk of exposure to coronavirus (COVID-19), as well as the availability of PPE and testing, and increasingly about when they will receive the vaccine. In response to our members’ concerns, we have produced guidance on a range of issues, such as:

  • The rights of pregnant workers to be offered suitable alternative work or to be suspended on full pay
  • What to do in the event of a shortage of adequate PPE
  • The importance of workplace risk assessments

 

We have worked side-by-side with our colleagues in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), speaking with one voice to provide advice and support to maternity teams, individuals and families and to our members.

Responding to our members’ needs during this crisis has required us to work innovatively and at speed and so we have developed new ways of communicating. For example, we have hosted online Q&As via social media for members, students and pregnant people. We have run regular member surveys, which have been invaluable for collecting intelligence about what is happening on the frontline and for informing our approach to coronavirus (COVID-19) issues. And we have set up virtual task-and-finish groups to produce guidance, at pace, on issues such as PPE, testing, clinical advice and employment rights.

We have positioned ourselves in all the national conversations as the voice of midwifery, reflecting what our members tell us about their experience of delivering maternity care. We have successfully campaigned to ensure that maternity staff are ringfenced, so that people have continued to receive safe care. We have worked with other trade unions and professional bodies, as well as through the TUC, to hold the government and employers to account and to negotiate agreements on issues such as overtime payments, the deployment of students and compensation for bereaved families.

We have used the experience of the last year, and particularly what we have learnt about how the virus has disproportionately impacted on disadvantaged groups, to address the discrimination and inequalities experienced by individuals and families, and many of our members. We know, for example, that black and Asian staff are more likely than their white colleagues to suffer serious illness or die from coronavirus (COVID-19). Along with other NHS trade unions, we have agreed a set of principles on health and safety risk assessments, so that all NHS staff, but particularly our BAME colleagues, get the risk assessment they need to keep them safe.

We will not stop there. As part of our Race Matters campaign, we will listen and learn from all members to reflect their experiences accurately and to use this to influence and promote positive change in the workplace. We will use our position, both as an organisation and through our representatives, to challenge discriminatory behaviour in the workplace. Most importantly, we will ensure that the RCM, at every level, is representative of our membership.

Finally, we will keep up the pressure on the Chancellor to show midwives and maternity support workers that they are valued. During the pandemic, almost 40 per cent of our members were working additional unpaid overtime to keep services running safely.

Years of austerity, pay restraint and underinvestment in healthcare have taken their toll on the take-home pay of our members and that needs to be fixed. We - and our fellow unions - expect the Pay Review Body to recommend a fair and just pay increase and for the government to honour that recommendation