NHS staff strike: Standing on the picket line makes this the saddest day of my life
We midwives have talked about strikes before, but this is the first time we have felt cornered
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
I have worked as midwife since 1974, rising through the ranks to head of service, although I am now a semi-retired consultant midwife. I began at the end of the ‘call the midwife’ era, and the NHS is the only employer I have ever known.
So to find myself standing on a picket line outside my hospital is the saddest day of my life. I never ever thought that it would come to this. We always thought that midwifery was a valued part of the NHS – not special, but valued.
I’ve been a Royal College of Midwives member for 40 years. We’ve talked about strikes in the past, but now we feel cornered. We feel there is nowhere else to go but to appeal to the public..
The dispute has been triggered by the Government’s refusal to implement the 1 per cent pay rise agreed by the pay review body. Most midwives have had their pay frozen for two years, and in that time they have seen other health service professionals do considerably better. The profession has now become totally demoralised.
We can still recruit midwives but we simply can’t keep them at these rates. And if there aren’t enough midwives, we will lose the ability to give women the chance to give birth in a natural way. There will be more ‘medicalised’ births.
Doctors don’t give the same type of touchy-feely care that a midwife can. It is the midwives who nurture women in labour for 12 hours, and without us the quality of ante-natal care in hospitals would deteriorate. We don’t want women to lose their choice over areas like home births because simply there aren’t midwives available.
I hope the public doesn’t see us as greedy. We have guaranteed that no woman who needs the service at University College London Hospital today will be put at risk by today’s action, nor will any babies. Between us on the picket line, we have ensured that everyone will be properly looked after.
Astrid Osbourne is Consultant Midwife and Supervisor of Midwives at University College London Hospital
She writes in a personal capacity and her views do not express those of UCLH
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments