On 30 March the Ockenden Review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust was published – it was the biggest review into any UK maternity service in the history of the NHS. In this episode hear directly from midwife Donna Ockenden about her team's work, and the bravery of the families who fought to have this report published. Donna also shares her hopes for widespread safety improvements and thoughts on more investment in maternity staff to deliver safer care. Gemma also sits down with RCM’s Chief Executive Gill Walton to hear her reaction to the report and more about how RCM members are coping with understaffed services

The reports Immediate and Essential Actions (IEAs) for services will impact all RCM members as the services they work in strive to implement them. While the IEAs are to be adopted by services in England, many other parts of the UK are examining them with a view to incorporating them into current work that’s underway to improve safety. RCM’s UK Director for Professional Midwifery Mary Ross-Davie also joins this episode to discuss each of the 15 IEAs and more on new guidance and tools the RCM has developed to support its members in improving safety and delivering high-quality maternity care.

Read RCM's initial response to Ockenden review here

Find more support and guidance in RCM's Safety Hub here

This month RCM published a Safer Staffing position statement calling out the Government’s poor record of investment in maternity services, which has undermined the efforts of midwives and maternity staff to deliver the safest and best possible care for women and their babies. Years of underfunding has affected the safety and quality of maternity services and report after report into failing maternity services cites understaffing as a major issue. England is short over 2,000 midwives and the situation is deteriorating with midwife numbers falling month on month, worsened further by the pandemic. Right across the UK services and RCM members are under immense pressure.

In this episode, Sean O’ Sullivan RCM’s Head of Health and Social Policy joins Gemma to discuss why funding for maternity services is so desperately needed, workforce issues, and the upcoming Ockenden report.

Gemma also chats to Catherine Cargill a former MSW and now a second-year student midwife, to hear her thoughts on the current situation as prepares to enter the profession and why she’s chosen to become a midwife and remains committed despite many reconsidering their roles in maternity services due to the immense pressures and stress.

*Following the recording of this episode NHS England pledged £127 million worth of funding for maternity and neonatal services, some of which will go towards midwife staffing. The RCM has cautiously welcomed the announcement.*

If you want to learn more about what the RCM is doing to support its members when it comes to improving pay and pensions this is the episode for you.

Gemma is joined by Lynne Galvin one of the RCM’s leads on pensions who offers great insight into the upcoming changes happening to the NHS pension scheme from April which will affect RCM members. Lynne also shares some great advice on what members need to do to ensure a smooth transition for those impacted by changes.

In part 2 of this episode, Gemma catches up with Alice Sorby RCM’s Director for Employment Relations for all the latest on the RCM’s Deliver a Decent Deal pay campaign, hear more about the campaigning work the RCM has been doing to improve pay for all its members across the UK. Alice also shares more on the RCM’s recent activity for the 2022/23 pay round and details of the RCM’s submission to the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB), in addition to the RCM’s involvement in the joint pay campaign #WithNHSStaff.

In the first episode of RCM's second podcast series, Gemma Murphy catches up with Digital Midwives from around the UK.

Anne Watkins from Wales, Misbah Mahmood from Leeds, and Moira Mooney from Scotland share their experiences of working as Digital Midwives and the challenges of balancing the role with their clinical work. The RCM's Digital Midwife Advisor Victoria Komolafe joins the conversation with more on what the RCM has planned to support members with the shift to Digital in 2022.

Gemma also talks to the NHS National lead Digital Midwife for Maternity Jules Gudgeon about NHS plans for more formal training for those interested in becoming a digital midwife and why there is such variation in bands and what is being done to change that.

If you haven't managed to listen to all the episodes from the RCM's 2021 podcast series this is the episode for you. Hear some great highlights including stories from midwives and maternity support workers from across this year and a special Christmas message from RCM’s Chief Executive Gill Walton to RCM members.

In this episode, Gemma meets a selection of this year's RCM Award winners. Hear them tell their inspirational personal and professional stories and how their work and programmes have made a difference to women and their maternity colleagues.

The winner of the NMC's Excellence in Perinatal Mental Health Award from North Middlesex University Hospital Trust, Fiona Laird shares how she and Melissa Jhagroo set up an award-winning service to support women from a diverse range of backgrounds with their mental health during and after pregnancy.

Also, two midwives from Northampton who won the RCM's Race Matters Award Fatima Ghaouch and Sam Sibanda discuss how they have provided additional support to Black, Asian and minority ethnic women during the pandemic and successfully changed pregnancy outcomes. They've also worked hard to tackle racial inequalities in their workplace and share their own personal experiences of racism.

Gemma also meets the RCM's Waterwipes Maternity Support Worker of Year award winner Candice Noonan from Oxford who's specialises in bereavement support at John Radcliffe Hospital.

As the UK's only dedicated trade union for midwives and maternity support workers in the UK  lobbing and influencing is central to what the RCM does day in day out.

If you’ve ever wondered about the lobbying and influencing work that happens behind scenes at the RCM this is the episode for you and an opportunity to hear more about what the RCM is doing for you as a member at national and local level.

In this episode, Gemma meets Stuart Bonar RCM’s Public Affairs to hear more about the RCM as a political influencer and how the RCM gets MP's to listen and advocate for RCM members.

Maternity support worker, Keelie Barrett, shares her experiences and recent workplace wins as an RCM Health & Safety rep, Keelie also discusses her role as an RCM Board member. Gemma is also joined by Sean O’ Sullivan RCM’s Head of Health and Social Policy who talks about the RCM’s One Voice collaboration, how influential the RCM’s policy work has been, and how working together is key to securing stronger influence and wins for RCM members.

In this episode, Gemma catches up with the RCM’s CEO Gill Walton to hear more about what the RCM is currently doing for its members and all the key work that’s happening.

Gemma is also joined by Rosemary Idiaghe a Consultant Midwife for midwife-led care who discusses her career to date and her upcoming session on improving outcomes for Black, Asian and minority ethic women at the RCM’s Conference.

Helen Rogers RCM’s Director for Wales and one of the 2021 RCM conference curators speaks to Gemma about the upcoming conference programme highlights that are not to be missed.

The RCM’s Activist conference took place this week and Gemma meets midwife and RCM Activist Zoe Meneilly from Northern Ireland who has some great advice about the role and tips on how to reinvigorate your local branch.

Also, Grace Thomas Reader in Midwifery and the Lead Midwife for Education at Cardiff University discusses the important role midwifery educators play in preparing student midwives for the realities of practice. Grace who was recently awarded an RCM Fellowship also provides us with sneak preview of what we can expect from her ‘Together we can grow tomorrow’s leaders’ session at conference.

It’s a challenging time for maternity services and in our latest episode Gemma Murphy explores the current issues facing RCM members. Midwife staffing shortages, NHS pay and pregnancy during COVID-19. Hear from the RCM’s Employment Relations Advisor Alice Sorby on all things pay and find out what’s happening with the 3% pay award due to members in England and Wales.

Suzzanne Tyler RCM’s Executive Director for Services to Members talks about pressures on services, staffing shortages, and why the RCM believes midwifery continuity of carer is so difficult to deliver in the current climate given there aren’t enough midwives.

COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has rarely been out of the news lately and Birte Harlev-lam RCM’s Executive Director Midwife speaks to Gemma about the latest RCM guidance and what tools the RCM has developed to support its members in speaking to women about the vaccine. Gemma and Birte also discuss about how the RCM and it’s Chief Executive were targeted by online trolls and abused for giving evidence-based advice about vaccination during pregnancy.

Student midwives are our future midwives, but what’s it like being a student midwife in 2021? In our new episode Gemma Murphy talks to three student midwives from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland who are all at different stages of their midwifery training.

How has it been on clinical placement and studying during the pandemic?  What inspired them to become a midwife? What have been the biggest challenges? What’s it like to start a profession in law change to train as a midwife? How hard is it to juggle childcare while on clinical placement? and what advice do these student midwives have for anyone considering becoming a midwife.