A senior midwife has warned that “systemic problems” in Scotland’s maternity services mean mums are not getting adequate care after birth.
Leah Hazard said pressure on staff to get mothers and babies “quickly out of the door” meant hospitals were often failing to provide the aftercare mothers need. As a result, some women were developing preventable infections that could have been avoided or treated sooner if they were given proper hospital care.
It comes after a survey of nearly 900 Scottish midwives by the Royal College of Midwives found that three quarters of them were considering leaving the profession. Many cited frustrations that they weren’t able to provide acceptable quality of care due to staff shortages.
READMORE: Death of Edinburgh prison inmate Allan Marshall to be re-examined by prosecutors
According to the Daily Record, some 50% of midwives surveyed said their department “rarely” had safe numbers of staff.
Speaking on the Mother Bodies podcast, which launches on Tuesday, Hazard said: “Although staff more often than not are very skilled, empathetic, compassionate and hardworking, there is pressure to tick certain boxes and get [mother] and baby safely out the door.
“It means that, quite often, women don’t get the time and care they really deserve at that stage when they are really, really vulnerable and have really complex needs.”
She said the knock-on effect was that women were more likely to develop health issues when they got home.
Hazard added: “Community midwives then have all these people to look after who’ve been ejected from the hospital, probably quite early on, who have issues and complications that maybe could have been prevented had that not been the case.”
Hazard, author of Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story, said the NHS treated maternity services as a whole as a “poor relation” and that years of “chronic underfunding” were to blame for the current problems.
She said: “Unfortunately, we’re now reaping the consequences of those years.”
Royal College of Midwives director, Jaki Lambert, said maternity services could not continue “on goodwill alone”.
She said: “There is a real disconnect between what maternity services need and what resources are available to them. Without action, the staff – and the system they are propping up – will break. This is not safe and it’s not acceptable.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The £10,000 bursary for Scottish midwifery students is the highest in the UK and those with healthcare backgrounds can access our fast-track scheme.
“This has delivered nearly twice the amount of student midwives in the past 10 years, meaning we are on track to deliver improvements and ensure new mothers get the support they need during pregnancy and beyond.”
READ NEXT:
Edinburgh mum has 'irreplaceable' wedding ring found by hero metal detectorist
An Edinburgh local’s guide to the Fringe and our top tips for festival season
We joined Edinburgh's Street Assist team on one of the busiest weekends of summer
Spacious three-bedroom Edinburgh property with front and back garden hits the market
Edinburgh Zoo giraffe removed from trail after being ripped from concrete stand
