Hansard

Sunday was international day of the midwife, and I enjoyed seeing my social media feeds filled with cute baby photos and lovely sentiments about the special work that midwives do to support women and their babies.

The baby theme has continued, with the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton announcing the safe arrival of their little one on Monday. I am sure that the Parliament wishes Meghan and Harry all the best.

All babies are special, and Scottish Labour shares the ambition of the Scottish Government to give all children in Scotland the best start in life. That is why we have called this debate, to seek urgent support for Scotland’s midwives, because we believe that they need extra help to keep delivering excellent care for women and babies.

I pay tribute to the Royal College of Midwives and thank its members for their input. I also thank Unison and many of my constituents, who have shared their experiences of midwifery and neonatal care and their ideas for innovation and improvement.

This morning, I had the pleasure of visiting University hospital Wishaw with Richard Leonard, where we listened to midwives telling us with great pride and passion about their work. We heard about the highs and the lows, and I was particularly struck by the care that has gone into developing dedicated bereavement and baby-loss support.

We met midwives who wake up in the morning wanting to make a difference and that is exactly what they are doing. I thank NHS Lanarkshire for allowing us to visit and for creating a supportive environment in which midwives are valued. That includes Lorna Lennox, who has developed the beautiful ribbon that I am holding. I know that members cannot read it, but it is a very helpful guide for mums who might be unsure about baby movements and so on, and it promotes the triage service. Those are the lovely little touches and innovations that we see when staff are truly supported.

The work of a midwife, however, is clearly demanding, and their jobs are made more challenging than they should be because of workforce pressures. Last year, there were 127 whole-time equivalent vacancies in Scotland and 45.5 of those posts were left unfilled for longer than three months. Overall, the vacancy rate has increased from 1.3 per cent in 2013 to 5 per cent in 2018. Those vacancies put additional pressure on the rest of the workforce.

Our midwifery workforce is highly experienced, which is a good thing, but more than 40 per cent of midwives are aged over 50. Their knowledge and experience are invaluable, but the ageing workforce gives rise to concern about succession planning as midwives start to retire. We picked up on that issue during our visit to Lanarkshire today and have done so more widely in conversations with the Royal College of Midwives.

Despite falling birth rates, midwives’ workloads are not diminishing, and we need a robust pipeline of midwives for the future. There are between 50,000 and 60,000 births in Scotland each year. There has been an increase in complex births due to a higher number of inductions of labour and a rise in the number of older women and women with a high body mass index becoming pregnant and giving birth.

That brings me to resources. I was worried to read a letter signed by community midwives at NHS Lothian, who described not having enough equipment, computers or pool cars. I expect that Lothian colleagues including Miles Briggs, Alison Johnstone and Alex Cole-Hamilton will share that concern and I hope that the minister will, today, commit the Scottish Government to carrying out an investigation. Nineteen Lothian midwives signed the letter and they say that the understaffed and stretched service relies on midwives’ goodwill to meet the growing case loads and ever-broadening remits.

Midwives, like all our national health service staff, deserve to be treated with respect and care, but weaknesses in workforce planning are contributing to reports of burnout and stress. It is our job, here in Parliament, to have an honest conversation about how to fix that. If colleagues support the Scottish Labour motion today, we will all agree that low morale, bullying and work-related stress must be urgently addressed.

Scottish Labour broadly welcomes the Scottish Government’s best start strategy. The continuity of carer throughout the maternity journey is valued by women and, if adequately resourced, it can improve outcomes in maternity and neonatal care. We pay tribute to NHS staff and service users, and organisations including Bliss and the National Childbirth Trust, which influenced the final strategy.

We are pleased that the Scottish Government’s amendment emphasises that the £12 million allocated to best start is an initial investment, but we hear the concerns of midwives who are anxious to see further resourcing follow quickly. That is why we are calling for an additional £10 million to be released towards the best start roll-out. Best start reforms, if they are adequately funded, could be transformative and lead to successful outcomes for women, babies and their families. Midwives do such an important and special job and they must feel valued. Pregnancy is a treasured time, but it can be challenging and it is imperative that all women receive the care that is right for them.

We will happily support Miles Briggs’s amendment, which recognises the positive work of the Royal College of Midwives. I am grateful that the Scottish Government’s amendment would not delete my points around workforce pressures and the need for an urgent investigation into the resourcing concerns in Lothian.

I note that the Scottish Government’s amendment would remove Labour’s call for an additional £10 million, which makes it difficult for me to support it, but when the minister gets to her feet I will look forward to hearing her clarification on the funding that it will make available. Scottish Labour welcomes the reforms that the Scottish Government is implementing, but believes that certainty of funding is essential.

I move,

That the Parliament acknowledges that the International Day of the Midwife took place on 5 May 2019 and commends the commitment and skills of Scotland’s midwives and their crucial role in caring for women and babies; recognises that a continuity of carer throughout the maternity journey is valued by women and that, if adequately resourced, can improve outcomes in maternity and neonatal care; is concerned that many midwives are experiencing significant workforce pressures; believes that action must be taken to address low morale, bullying and work-related stress; further believes that the concerns raised by midwives in NHS Lothian in an open letter, which claims that they do not have enough computers, equipment and pool cars, needs urgent investigation; understands that only £12 million has been allocated towards the implementation of the Best Start recommendations and believes that this funding falls short of what is needed to safely deliver the new transformative models of care that are required by the Scottish Government, and urges the Scottish Government to ensure that all midwives have adequate time, training and resources and to provide an additional £10 million towards the implementation of the Best Start recommendations.