Midwives share reports of death threats and anxiety amid ongoing maternity reviews

Midwifery teams are reportedly receiving death threats and are concerned the profession is being ‘eroded’ amid a series of external reviews and investigations.

Midwives at this year’s Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Congress shared the emotional toll and anxiety of external reviews, saying they are adding pressure to ‘overstretched’ teams.

There are several ongoing investigations into maternity services across England, including Nottingham, Sussex, and Leeds – as well as the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, led by Baroness Valerie Amos.

Former health and social care secretary Wes Streeting called for the national investigation in June last year following a series of meetings with bereaved families, to ensure ‘truth, accountability, and urgent improvements to care and safety’.

Midwives discussed the impact of these reviews and inquiries at the annual RCN Congress last week, with several members sharing the emotional strain and burnout they have caused.

Members stressed that, though they are not rejecting scrutiny, the process should be improved including the improved support for staff.

Speaking during a matter for discussion – worded that the RCN Congress discusses whether external reviews and inquiries are genuinely driving meaningful improvements in safety across health and social care – South East midwife Emily Fergusson-Tyrrell said her team had experienced death threats following a review.

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She said it caused her to worry about her own work and fears the media coverage has now ‘eroded’ midwifery as a profession.

‘I remember at the time thinking that [the inquiry] was going to be a really good thing, the voices of women and staff who had struggled would be [heard], that things would change,’ she said.

She described how a media report shared ‘shocking allegations against the trust’.

‘The next day, I heard that one of our leading consultants had received death threats in the mail,’ said Ms Fergusson-Tyrrell.

‘There were also comments [online from readers] saying that they wanted to just lock all of the doors and set fire to the whole building.

‘This was the place I worked. How was I supposed to react to that?’

She added: ‘That’s not to devalue external reviews [but] while we wait for these endless results, is the trust in our profession being eroded?’

Chair of the RCN Midwifery Forum Angela Cartwright, who proposed the matter for discussion, said midwives are often left to manage the fallout of reviews, including the emotional strain of reliving traumatic events and having a ‘damaged reputation’.

She said: ‘For nurses and midwives, especially those in leadership roles, [the review] creates a real tension.

‘[They are] expected to uphold safety [but] the very systems designed to support learning creates fear, blame, and burnout.’

‘We need to think about how we support nurses and midwives going through these investigations. We heard Ms Fergusson-Tyrell say about the devastating impact that reports and investigations by media have.

‘As a midwife, I know the impact these failings are having in terms of trust from our colleagues’.

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Members also stressed that the review process was ‘too slow’ and risks becoming ‘meaningless, wasteful and reactionary’ if known problems were not appropriately addressed.

RCN Fellow Ruth Oshikanlu said: ‘The question is no longer whether we know what is wrong. We do know what is wrong.

‘We need to avoid wasting more paper stating the same thing. The real test of leadership is whether we finally have the courage to change it, and resources and the people improve safety for us.

‘For the past decade, the UK has commissioned review after review into maternity safety with thousands of pages of recommendations. Many of the same themes continue to emerge – people not being listened to, teamworking, safe staffing, racism, discrimination, defensive cultures, and failures to learn.

‘Organisations respond with lengthy action plans and new committees while frontline staff remain exhausted, disappointed, and fearful of speaking up.

‘What needs to change is accountability must become real. Recommendations must be implemented independently, monitored and publicly reported.

‘We must build cultures where psychological safety exists, both for staff and for families.

‘People should be able to raise concerns without fear of blame or career damage.’

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Baroness Amos’ independent investigation into maternity and neonatal care, with full recommendations for improvements, is due to be published next month.

The debates comes after a professional advisor at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) accused the nursing regulator of ‘targeting’ midwives after it launched a dashboard highlighting midwifery fitness to practise (FtP) cases.

The new Midwifery Data Dashboard was launched in March by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to help the maternity care sector to ‘understand and address recurring themes when midwifery care goes wrong’.

However, the regulator was accused of ‘targeting’ midwives due to the absence of comparative data for nurses.