Maternity Action has released a new report, Duty of Care? The impact on midwives of NHS charging for maternity care. The study aimed to explore midwives’ experiences of looking after women who had been charged, especially in relation to the impact of NHS charging on their professional practice.
To read the full study, please click here.
The report identifies three main issues:
● Midwives face conflicts in their professional practice as a result of charging
● Midwives experience an increased workload due to women’s responses to charging
● Midwives find themselves having to deal with ethical dilemmas about how far they need to engage with the charging regime
This latest publication follows the report that came out last year, What Price Safe Motherhood? Charging for NHS maternity care in England and its impact on migrant women, in which we heard from women who had been charged for the care they received.
You can read the summary and the new report here.