Webchat with Cathy Warwick, RCM Chief Exec, on Tuesday 23 May at 12.45pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello,

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Professor Cathy Warwick CBE on Tuesday 23 May at 12.45pm. Professor Warwick is Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), and has recently been part of a major review of maternity services in England (Mumsnet was also represented on the Review).

The RCM aims ‘to influence policy on behalf of women, forging collaborative relationships with a broad range of organisations with common interests and working closely with obstetricians, gynaecologists and paediatricians and their Royal Colleges.’

Commenting on our campaign for Better Postnatal Care: Aftercare, not Afterthought, Cathy has said: ‘For women the postnatal period can often be a very difficult time – and this is when the highest level of care and support is needed most for some women. It can also be an extremely exhausting and worrying time, particularly for first-time mothers. Surveys of women's views of maternity care including this latest one repeatedly inform us of their unhappiness with the current provision of postnatal care and in 2017 this is certainly not good enough. If we are to invest in better postnatal care for women we must invest in more midwives. England currently remains 3,500 midwives short and our maternity services will continue to struggle in supporting women if the shortage is not addressed. More midwives means women will get the care, time and support they truly deserve.”

Please do join us on the day - Tuesday 23 May at 12.45pm - but if you can’t make it, post a question in advance on this thread.

Please remember our webchat guidelines: one question each, with a follow-up to the webchat guest's response if appropriate; please don't keep posting 'what about me/please answer my question'; and please be civil/polite.

Thanks
MNHQ

@RowanMumsnet

Hi Cathy

Thanks for coming on today.

Can you say what advice you'd offer to a pregnant woman about to have her baby, who might be a bit worried about what could happen on the postnatal ward if she stays on one?

And if there are any women reading this who are currently on a postnatal ward and feeling undersupported, what should they do?

And finally - what would you like all of us to do to improve the situation?

I think the first point of contact for any mother who is worried about her care whether it's postnatally or earlier, is to talk to the head of midwifery at her local maternity service. Even if this isn't the right person, she will be able to point you in the right direction. I think talking to the head of midwifery is really useful because then she becomes aware of women's concerns and might be able to take some action to help in the longer term as well as helping you specifically.

Again, if you're on the postnatal ward and things aren't going well, I'd suggest asking to speak to the midwife in charge. Many maternity services have people called matrons who have overall responsible for that area of the service and they may be able to do something to improve things.

If it's before you have your baby, and there is more than one maternity service in your area, it may be worth exploring options in a nearby maternity unit and considering changing where you choose to have your baby. For women whose pregnancy is straightforward, many of our midwifery centres - freestanding midwifery units - or alongside midwifery led units, will have different postnatal facilities, and it may be looking at them may give you more options. And of course one of the major benefits of choosing a home birth is that you're in your own environment right from the word 'go'.

In terms of improving postnatal care more generally, I thought the Mumsnet survey was really interesting. It's often the little things that are the most troubling. E.g. people using their mobile devices in the middle of the night. I thought the RCM could do more to highlight some of these things that aren't rocket science to change and don't need more resources but we could do better.

From your point of view, one of the ways to improve maternity care is to join the local Maternity Voices group. This used to be called the MSLC but it's a forum where women can share their experiences and contribute their ideas to improvements. We've tended to focus a lot on improving care in labour and I think the time has come to do a lot more about postnatal care. This is in England but in Scotland there will be similar groups, as well as in Wales and Northern Ireland. You can find these groups by asking your midwife who visits you antenatally or postnatally, or by contacting your head of midwifery or possibly by contacting the PALS service (Patients Advice and Liason of your hospital). They may also be listed on the website. The names of these organisations might be slightly different across the 4 countries, but they are around.

Other than that, we need more women talking to their MPs (now's the perfect time!) and saying it's critical that we have enough resources in our health services to ensure high quality care. If there are two areas that are most important, I would argue the beginning or life and the end of life are absolutely critical.

Great hearing all your points - I hope I've managed to respond to them adequately but often it needs quite a lengthy discussion... hopefully I'll be back!

But rest assured I've been very interested in all your points. I'm here with one of our policy colleagues as well as Rona and we'll be feeding back your comments.

Thanks again.

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Thank you!
MNHQ

No response to my question from Cathy, then. Quelle surprise.