Event Details

Key Speakers

	Rona McCandlish, Midwifery Professional Advisor, Chief Nursing Officer's Directorate, Department of Health
	Cathy Warwick, General Secretary, Royal College of Midwives

Overview

Over the past decade, the midwifery profession has faced growing challenges, not least in terms of meeting increased service demands at a time of shrinking resources. Despite the birth rate rising by 22 per cent to almost 700,000 a year, the number of midwives grew by only 15 per cent to almost 21,000 (State of Maternity Services report 2011, The Royal College of Midwives), placing strain on capacity and prompting concerns that women may be vulnerable to inadequate and unsafe maternity care. The increase in complex pregnancies, due to growing levels of obesity, teenage pregnancies and middle-age pregnancies, alongside an increasingly diverse population and persistent health inequalities has also impacted on the ability of midwifery services to maintain world-class standards of care, with the UK rated 23rd in global maternal mortality rates in 2010.

Acknowledging the increased number and complexity of births, the Government has stressed its commitment to ensuring the midwifery workforce is appropriately resourced and skilled in order to deliver high quality care and provide women with choice. Underlining the importance of up-skilling the midwifery workforce, ‘The Government's response to the recommendations in Frontline Care: the report of the Prime Minister's Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery in England’ (April 2011) makes clear that greater effort must be made to attract and retain talented midwives, provide training within multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams, and encourage continued professional development. Commissioning must also be strengthened to ensure midwifery services are innovative, cost effective and enable personalisation, whilst invaluable midwifery support workers should be properly utilised.

Seeking to re-shape maternity services in England in order to better meet the demands of the 21st century, the Government also envisages unlocking the potential of midwives through establishing a greater public health role to help reduce health inequalities and improve maternal health.

As the Government’s transformative plans for the NHS proceed through the parliamentary process, this timely symposium provides an opportunity for all practitioners working in midwifery and maternity services across the public, private and third sector to consider the Government’s vision for the future of midwifery care in England, and explore how to unlock the potential of midwives in order to better meet the needs of women.

Delegates will:

• Examine the future of midwifery care in the UK and how to deliver a service fit for the 21st Century
• Discuss how to improve quality, choice and cost-effectiveness through improved commissioning
• Consider how to ensure every woman receives safe, effective, personalised maternity care
• Explore how to strengthen the midwifery workforce through attracting talent, enhancing skills and promoting leadership

Programme

Who Should Attend?

• Midwives
• Sure Start
• Maternity Support Workers
• Maternity Care Assistants
• Maternity Care and Midwifery Organisations
• Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
• General Practitioners
• Health Visitors
• Public Health Practitioners
• Chief Executive Officers and Medical Directors
• Maternity Consultants
• Obstetric Physiotherapists
• Paediatricians
• Teenage Pregnancy Coordinators and Advisors
• Local Pregnancy Advisory Services
• Family Planning Clinics
• NHS Training Departments
• Directors of Nursing
• Academics
• Local Community and Voluntary Organisations
• Local Authorities and Local Councillors
• DoH, NHS, DfE and other Central Government Departments

“ Choice for women over how they access maternity care, what type of antenatal care they want and where to give birth are still central to our thinking. Our intention is to reduce health inequalities and improve public health and midwives must be actively engaged in these efforts… We have made sure Strategic Health Authorities will not be reducing midwifery training places during 2011/12. The NHS has a record number of midwives in place and the planned training of midwives for the coming year will continue at the same numbers as last year. Since May 2010, the number of midwives has increased by 296. We are firmly committed to getting the number of midwives right and we have asked the Centre of Workforce Intelligence to monitor this.

The image of nursing and midwifery as career choices should be promoted both nationally and at a local level. We need wide access routes and flexible training and working patterns. The image of the professions is key. Nurses and midwives are central to our vision for the NHS because it is so often their personal care and initiative that determines the success of interventions and treatments. ”
— The Government's response to the recommendations in Frontline Care: the report of the Prime Minister's Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery in England, April 2011