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The Association of Radical Midwives has petitioned the Lord Chancellor - as signatory of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Professional Conduct) Rules 1987 Approval Order 1987, to ask him to look into the way these rules are being operated and whether changes are needed. The Association is concerned by what it sees as an apparent lack of awareness of the rules of natural justice in the carrying out of the Professional Conduct Machinery. It is a scholarly and well researched document which has benefited from legal as well as midwifery input, and it has been sent to the Chairman of each of the national Boards. It suggests having a legally qualified chairman of the Professional Conduct Committee; it recommends that midwives should be judged by their peers; that accused midwives should be told the charges against them within three months, or the case dropped for want of prosecution; it wants the rules of evidence to be followed; and hearings of the Conduct Committee to be open to the public. The document criticises the length of sittings of the Professional Conduct Committee and points out that members of the panel adjudicating get too tired to concentrate if they are sitting listening for very long periods. The document asks for the reasons behind decisions to be given, as is done in all other courts, and it suggests the use of intermediate penalties. Many of the suggestions are within the law as it now stands and it may just take a more detailed look at the laws under which the Conduct Committee and Investigating Committee operates for many of the suggestions to be taken on board. The Association of Radical Midwives issued a document in 1986 called The Vision - Proposals for the Future of the Maternity Services and in this document proposed principles for good practice in the provision of maternity care, which would evolve from the principles that the relationship between the mother and the midwife is fundamentally important to good maternity care and that it is the mother who is the central person in the process of care. Their suggestions included women having realistic choices and that midwives skills should be fully utilised. The Association suggested continuity of care for all childbearing women and services based in the community. The service being accountable to those receiving care and that care should no harm to either mother or baby.This far seeing vision of future maternity care has lent inspiration to many midwives, probably the vision of an improved professional conduct machinery will also inspire more midwives and help them to feel confident that they will get a fair hearing if they ever come before the Investigating Committee or the Professional Conduct Committee. It would appear that this is what the midwife in 1989 wants and needs, especially at this moment when so many midwives feel demoralised and undervalued after the Clinical Grading which has appeared to denigrate the skills of the midwife and to fail to recognise either her expertise, her knowledge or the responsibility she takes. The midwife of 1989 wants and needs vision towards a positive future, strong leadership within the profession, and an assurance their she and her profession are really going somewhere. The profession is too demoralised at the moment for this impetus to come from within - it has to be led forward and both these documents pinpoint a better tomorrow for midwives and, because of the nature of the profession, for mothers. March 1989. |
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