1,000 signatures reached
To: The Nursing and Midwifery Council
BRING BACK CCCU'S MIDWIFERY BSC AND SAVE KENT'S MATERNITY SERVICES
Just days before the International Day of the Midwife the NMC have announced the removal of the Midwifery BSC programme with immediate effect. 3rd year students who are weeks away from qualifying and have given up careers, sacrificed time with their families and worked incredibly hard for long hours in our hospitals for no pay while ramping up debts are now at risk of not being able to finish their studies. The local hospitals will be made more unsafe as already-low staffing levels will be considerably worsened due to no new pool of newly qualified midwives. Even more midwives will leave due to burnout - many of whom would have worked throughout the pandemic mentoring these students.
We are asking that you reinstate the programme and work with the Trust and University to make any needed changes. The decision you have made is dangerous and incredibly distressing for all involved, especially the local families who need to access maternity care from hospitals that will have even fewer resources.
Why is this important?
Midwifery students in Kent have been working incredibly hard for up to 3 years - many are weeks away from qualifying and many won't be able to finish the course, meaning they won't be able to practise. They have sacrificed other careers, time with family, have taken on debt and worked long hours for free at our local hospitals, some of them through the pandemic. Our local midwives have put hard work into mentoring them. Without a new pool of newly qualified midwives locally, out hospitals who already have low staffing levels will struggle to recruit to the levels they need, meaning that local families needing maternity care will suffer unless something can be done.
