Sustaining quality midwifery care in a pandemic and beyond

Autor: Helen Cheyne, Mary Ross-Davie, Soo Downe, Lesley Page, Elizabeth Duff, Billie Hunter, Helen Spiby, Tina Lavender, Fiona Dykes, Justine Craig, Mary J. Renfrew
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Midwifery
ISSN: 0266-6138
Popis: The rapid development of COVID-19 has completely altered the context of health care across the UK and around the world. The speed and severity of the pandemic has taken us all by surprise, priorities have shifted and the balance of risks has changed. Things that seemed to be of the greatest importance only a few weeks ago have been swept away. Practice environments have changed almost beyond recognition, especially in hospitals, and a heightened sense of urgency and even fear can, understandably, predominate. The public health and medical imperative is such that there is a perception that the needs, preferences and decisions of childbearing women and even their rights and those of their babies are less important or even irrelevant (Birthrights, 2020). At such a time of rapidly changing priorities and heightened awareness of risk, and despite the overwhelming sense of crisis, a focus on evidence is essential to inform decision-making and to avoid harm. Making swift, if well intentioned, changes without evidence of effectiveness may lead to unanticipated consequences which could seriously compromise the quality of care and outcomes. Maternity workload pressures have increased as a result of the pandemic. Staff have had to self-isolate to protect their own health or when family members are infected. The priority of keeping women and babies – and staff - safe in a pandemic means that we must have the ability to balance the restrictions required to control the spread of infection with the essential, evidence-informed principles of safe, effective, equitable, respectful, kind and compassionate care (Renfrew et al., 2014). Is this a dilemma? No, there must be no trade-off between protecting the health and wellbeing of midwives and other health workers, and the rights of women and babies. Both are imperative. If we fail there is a real risk that the safety and rights of women and babies will be seriously compromised (Human Rights Watch, 2020; International Confederation of Midwives, 2020a; International Confederation of Midwives, 2020b). In this paper we reflect on the immediate response of the maternity services in the UK to the coronavirus pandemic, and the evidence-informed developments that are now emerging (May 2020). We propose a way forward that includes seeking the views of women themselves and their families and the staff who care for them in designing safe and sustainable maternity and neonatal services in the context of coronavirus, recognising that the impact of COVID-19 will last for some years. We present a set of core principles that should be at the heart of care planning and delivery both during and after the pandemic.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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