RCM welcomes plan to introduce maternity service inspections in Scotland

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has welcomed the recent announcement from Health Improvement Scotland that routine inspections of maternity services across Scotland will begin in January 2025. However, it has cautioned that there are limitations as the work to develop specific maternity standards has not yet started. Inspections are already carried out in England by the CQC, by the Healthcare Inspectorate in Wales and in Northern Ireland by the Regulation and Improvement Authority.

This follows calls from the RCM for a commitment to the development of standards for maternity care across Scotland, with recommendations published in the RCM’s Five Year Forward Plan.

The RCM says that it hopes the new inspection reports will also highlight good practice, so those services that are struggling and striving to make improvements can learn from those that are doing well.

Jaki Lambert, Director of the RCM in Scotland, comments: “We welcome Health Improvement Scotland’s commitment to the development of standards for maternity care, and I am cautiously optimistic that the inspections will support our members and help to shine a light on the challenges that they face. We now await the development of clear standards which will support maternity services to provide assurances regarding the care they provide. We must also ensure that the inspections will not be used as a tool to undermine an already challenged and under-resourced workforce. We will be watching and listening to make sure this does not happen. Midwives and maternity care assistants work hard every day to support and work with families at such an important time in their lives, but they can only do that with the right resources, leadership and culture to support them.”

When it comes to leadership, the RCM says that while it welcomes the appointment of a lead midwife at Health Improvement Scotland, it is disappointed that this is a part-time role and below the associate director level that is required to have the influence to make lasting improvements.

In 2022 the RCM published the results of a county-wide survey of its members where midwives in Scotland identified the steps needed to provide the best levels of care.

Lambert adds: “Without a doubt these inspections will highlight the challenges faced by our members, and it’s crucial their voices are also listened to. There is, however, no point in any inspections, standards or safe staffing legislation if we continue to be crippled by workforce challenges. Understaffing undoubtedly compromises safety and currently we have far too many services without the right levels of midwifery staff and correct skill mix. We also have almost 300 midwifery students at the point of qualifying, every one of them are needed and have been invested in at great cost to the public, yet to date less than a third have secured jobs.”

www.rcm.org.uk