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Midwives must resist attempts by the Royal College of Nursing to take
them over, says Caroline Flint. The experience of other countries suggests
that when this happens, midwives end up doing what the doctors order
So the president and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing
want to take over the midwives. This is seen in the RCN's appointment
of a midwifery advisor and president Maude Storey's comments at the annual
congress, when she expressed the desire to bring all branches of nursing
together, including midwifery.'
I'm waiting next to hear the president of the Royal College of Physicians
stand up and say that he wants to take over the Royal College of Surgeons.
For, as he could rightly say, `we have more in common than divides us',
or the president of the Federation of Master Builders wanting to take
over the Institute of Civil Engineers. Perhaps we could leave it all to
the RCN. Tomorrow the midwives, the day after the doctors, next week -
the world! What is happening inside the RCN that it has this power to
lust to control other professions? Is its house so perfectly in order
that it is being kindly to us and is going to help us along in the same
way that it is helping the psychiatric nurses, the district nurses and
the enrolled nurses?
I'm being facetious, but what is this fatal fascination that midwives
have for other professions`? The obstetricians have been busily annexing
midwives for the past half century; the Central Midwives Board was peopled
mainly by doctors because they wanted to have control of the midwifery
profession, and insisted when the 1902 Midwives Act went through Parliament
that they had more than adequate representation on the body. The trades
unions have been trying to lure midwives into their ranks for years -
I shouldn't be surprised to open my newspaper tomorrow and discover that
the National Union of Punch and Judy Operators want us to join their ranks.
Perhaps we should take a few tips from dentists. No-one seems to want
to annex them, and it appears to me that they are in a similar position
to midwives. They have similarities with another and larger profession
but are very much a separate and distinct profession in their own right,
with different philosophies and objectives. Perhaps it's what dentists
represent that makes them secure against takeover. Perhaps midwives are
so attractive because of what they do. Everyone is fascinated and entranced
by young babies. The whole process of pregnancy and birth is so amazing,
perhaps we who are involved in it are as irresistible as the process we
are there to aid.
Which leads on to our raison d'etre - women and mothers and babies. Would
they be helped if we became part of the Royal College of Nursing`? Would
women fare better than they do now? Would they receive more helpful and
more supportive care in their role as mothers? Would nurse/midwives do
it better? We don't have to look far. Nurses have annexed midwives in
many countries of the world, and in many countries of the world they are
called just that - nurse/midwives. They wear nurses' clothes, they do
what the doctor orders, they ensure that women are quiet and given adequate
sedation and that when their labour is slower than is cost-effective their
labour is speeded up. They ensure that women use the nice, efficient,expensive
machines which can save the messy business of putting a hand or an ear
on a sweaty tum, they make sure that the environment is clean and efficient
and that babies are kept clean and organized, that the woman and her baby
are `cared for'. This is a far cry from the sweaty, throaty-sounding,
agonising but exultant business which I see as labour, a far cry from
women taking responsibility for themselves and their health and their
own babies supported by the midwives those `with women'.
Midwives have already given a great deal to nurses. With the annexation
of midwives in the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act, we have given
a lead to the other professions in our code of professional conduct, our
list of competencies, our statutory refresher courses and our education
based on clinical practice. It would seem to me to be silly to shoot the
goose laying golden eggs. If the midwives are annexed - or lured, or beguiled
- into the Royal College of Nursing, where would all the ideas to copy
come from?
This opening salvo does mean one thing though: the Royal College of Midwives
must show the world a more public face. h needs to increase its public
relations. This shouldn't be difficult. It is already doing sterling work
for midwives with the Pay representing midwives in trouble. It has raised
the awareness of midwives on professional issues and formulated policies
for the future of midwifery and childbirth, as well as showing leadership
in the formulation of educational policies. Now it needs to show dynamic
leadership and an alliance with bolt mothers and other midwives with a
more radical approach.
It is capable of doing this. But I muss stop now - I've got the National
Association of Dog Walkers on the phone. They want us too!
Reference
1. Storey, M. Opening address of RCN president, to the RCN Annual Congress.
Glasgow, April 6, 1987.
May 6, 1987
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