Whanganui midwifery shortage: Pregnant women ‘crying and distressed’, trying to book services

Community midwives at the Nest Midwifery (from left) Melissa Gordon, Annie Smith and Jemma Roy. Photo / Eva de Jong

Pregnant women are being turned away from Whanganui midwifery practices because of a pressing shortage of midwives.

Nest Midwifery midwife Jemma Roy said staffing shortages at Whanganui Hospital were contributing to burnout among midwives, who were working for more than their contracted hours.

Roy said she had recently overseen two births over a 24-hour period at work, and functioning without sleep was an issue.

“A couple of times I’ve had to put my hand up and say I need help in there, during a difficult birth. But when they’re short staffed that becomes hard.”

Roy said all of the midwives at the practice dealt with women calling them “crying and distressed”, trying to book in for services.

Women due to give birth at the start of the month could secure a spot, whereas it was harder for women expecting later in the month.

“You feel guilty whenever you’re unavailable and the women get upset, and sometimes they get angry and abuse you.”

A Te Whatu Ora spokesperson said Whanganui Hospital currently had six vacancies for fulltime midwives.

New Zealand College of Midwives chief executive Alison Eddy said the biggest pressure facing midwives was the workforce shortages of both hospital and community-based midwives across the country.

“In smaller centres like Whanganui, the absence of one or two midwives can make a huge difference to the workforce.”

Whanganui Hospital was currently operating with four registered nurses employed in the maternity service, instead of trained midwives.

Roy said nurses could only provide post-natal care for pregnant women, and midwives had to be present for women during birth.

“Last week I had to step in when there were only two midwives on shift with a full ward, and a woman arrived unannounced, in labour, without a midwife.”

Roy’s practice had lost two midwives this year: one on maternity leave who opted to do shift work because it was a better work-life balance than being on call, and the other to Australia.

“Our colleague who left to Australia can work a 40-hour week there and earn three times more.”

Nest Midwifery midwife Annie Smith said she and Roy had shifted their hours to be on call for 10 days and then have four days off.

“That’s how we’ve decided to do it so we have some semblance of a life.”

Roy said this was the most time off she had been able to have in her more than 12-year career.

Smith said pregnant women who could not book in with a community midwife would be cared for during labour by a midwife who was a stranger.

“Women feel safe when giving birth if someone they know is there who they have formed a relationship with, and the continuity of the care person has proven to have better birth outcomes and experiences.”

When community midwives were unavailable, there was not the option for women to have a home birth.

“It’s very hard to say no to people.

“Most women understand we’re not robots or superhuman and, even though we’re on call 24/7, we need to sleep somewhere in those 24 hours which often doesn’t happen.”

Eddy said better working conditions were needed in New Zealand to retain midwives and greater financial support during the four years of study.

“It is not an easy job and there needs to be recognition of the value of the role because it’s got a lot of responsibility.”

Despite the intense demands of their work, Smith said the midwives at the practice would never take for granted the privilege of being let into a woman’s life at a “very vulnerable” time.

“But I can’t sacrifice my own family for somebody else’s.”

Nest Midwifery midwife Melissa Gordon joked it often felt like a break-up when she discharged one of her clients.

“You can’t put into words how intense that journey is.”