Midwives compile data to prove their case for bigger role

Midwives are compiling data to back their call for a bigger role in antenatal care because, according to nurses’ union president Paul Pace, the Health Minister had agreed with them “in principle”.

Midwives set a one-month deadline in February to introduce protocols on inductions and Caesarean sections, which they said was the reason behind overcrowding in the maternity wards. They also asked for the reintroduction of midwife-led clinics that would see pregnant women receive care and advice from midwives throughout their pregnancy.

“Last week, we had a meeting with the minister and he is totally agreeing midwives’ should have a role in antenatal care. What he requested is references so that at a later stage he can consider this role,” Mr Pace said.

Midwives are collating the data which should be presented to the minister later this month.

The data, Mr Pace pointed out, were meant to counteract a Dutch study, being quoted by the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which found that, in low-risk groups of mothers being cared for by midwives in the Dutch health care system, the death rate was 2.3 times higher than the high-risk group cared for by a team of obstetricians and midwives.

“Holland is just one country” Mr Pace said, adding there were papers “from all over the place” showing the benefits for mother and baby when a natural birth was permitted.

The studies being compiled by the midwives were meant to prove the benefits of midwifery-led clinics and a more natural birth. Hopefully, he said, this would start the ball rolling for the services of midwives to be introduced in antenatal care as was the case throughout Europe.

“What we’re saying is not that the gynaecologist should not be included. We want more team work,” he said, emphasising the importance of the doctor, especially in high-risk deliveries.

Obstetricians have repeatedly argued Malta had a very particular population of mothers who were high risk, pointing to short stature, a high rate of diabetes in pregnancy (which stands at 16 per cent), obesity and older mothers as indicators of probable problematic pregnancies.

In an interview with The Sunday Times in January, consultant gynaecologist Mark Formosa had cautioned against any changes in the health system, saying any change would be a leap in the dark, possibly away from the positive Maltese records.

Questions to the ministry about its stand on the matter remained unanswered at the time of writing.