Respectful Relationships in the Maternity Service

Research, reports, and investigations over many years into maternity services have proven that midwifery culture is sometimes lacking. This results in women, midwives, and student midwives being subjected to disrespectful behaviour including, in some instances, bullying. The consequences of this are that some maternity unit staff are unable to speak up, causing these maternity units to become increasingly unsafe, with high sickness and turnover rates amongst midwives and a high dropout rate among student midwives. These facts are widely documented and recommendations have been made about improving the culture of these units.