The report is the child of the #Saynotobullyinginmidwifery Facebook Group founded by ARM member Amanda Burleigh in 2017. The writing of the report was a collaborative effort by a number of midwives, most of them ARM members, from the firsthand accounts of midwives and student midwives. It is truly grim reading but explains a great deal about the parlous state of our NHS maternity services, and the accelerating loss of midwives.
ARM has made a financial contribution to printing copies for key parliamentarians of all parties and NHS senior managers. We hope it will provoke national debate and overdue cultural change. We believe its contents cannot be ignored. This behaviour has got to stop, and its perpetrators be called out.
The report can be downloaded for free from the ARM shop. Donations are very welcome! (proceeds going to ARM and TIMBET) The report is also available to buy on Amazon as and E-book or paperback.
The report is also a challenge to unions – you have to represent members better or lose them. Collusion between union reps and managers is NOT what members expect by way of service. We are losing midwives in droves – every midwife who ends her career early, is a loss to this country. It is time to Save Our NHS and valuing and retaining midwives (and nurses, doctors, paramedics) is where we need to start.
Please download and read the report. If the accounts in it resonate with your experience locally, send it to your HoM, share it with your colleagues, send it to your MP, send it to your Trust’s CEO.
Warning – it is very upsetting to read, if you are shaken by its contents, please do contact ARM for support – support@midwifery.org.uk
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