Draft Nursing and Midwifery (Amendment) Order 2017

Jim Fitzpatrick Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd February 2017 General Committees

[Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Paisley. I rise to seek reinforcement of the reassurances already articulated by the Minister and to echo some of the questions raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston, the shadow Minister. I should point out that, as MP for Poplar, the historic location for the BBC flagship drama, “Call the Midwife”, it would be remiss of me not to speak, having been placed on this Committee. Indeed, my Whips Office or the Speaker’s office have demonstrated a sense of humour by placing me on this Committee and making it an obligation to make a contribution to this debate.

In Poplar, we still have several nuns’ residences. I have met constituents who were delivered by the nuns and midwives in Poplar in the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Although the BBC series is a historical drama, it is still relevant in east London today.

I must confess I was slightly confused by the two briefings I received: one from the Royal College of Midwives and the other from the Nursing and Midwifery Council. On first reading, I thought one was in favour and one was opposed, but further and closer inspection demonstrated that that is not entirely the case. The RCM raised a couple of questions, as my hon. Friend has already explained. He said that it was concerned about the removal of the additional tier of regulation for midwives, which includes the supportive supervision at a regional level, the removal of the midwifery voice on the NMC in the new replacement structure, and the fact that the new systems will be non-statutory, which will make their existence in the long term potentially more fragile. The RCM seeks reassurance from the Government that the new systems will be enforced, particularly in the long term.

The NMC was much more supportive of the Government’s proposals. The briefing from Kerry Racher, the senior parliamentary officer of the NMC, indicated that the NMC forcefully welcomed many of the changes that the Government propose, and indeed advocated them. It quotes a number of reasons why it supports the changes. It says that they are changes that were requested following a number of critical incidents; the Minister referred to Morecambe Bay.

The NMC has long maintained that the legislation is out of date, which the Minister referred to a lot in his remarks. It has worked closely with the Department of Health to bring forward these changes and it welcomes the Secretary of State’s announcement that the Government would accept all the recommendations in Dr Kirkup’s report into Morecambe Bay. Finally, it says:

“The changes to midwifery regulation will strengthen public protection.”

In conclusion, I would welcome additional reassurance from the Minister because the two perspectives do not seem irreconcilable. I am reassured that my hon. Friend has indicated that the Opposition will not oppose these changes. I am grateful, Mr Paisley, for the opportunity to make these brief remarks.