NHS Midwifery Principles

Frontline employee’s are best placed to understand the needs of patients, and have the skills and knowledge to develop innovative services to meet those needs. We need to devolve power in the NHS so that frontline staff has a greater say in how services are delivered and resources are allocated. Each of the health care professionals holds a level of power according to their profession.

Respect in health and social means the users of service has to be respected, furthermore “we suggest that the type of respect that physicians owe to patients is independent of patient personal characteristics, and therefore, ought to be accorded equally to all (Beach, Duggan, Cassel, Geller, 2007). Power Sharing is networking between organisations when coming together as one body or team dealing with the service user’s case or issues to give

Being a midwife does not only defined by assisting women in childbirth. The general dictionary definition are the misconception of how people view midwives. Being a midwife means to be ‘with women’ and this leads the construction of the midwifery philosophy, Page (2006) 5 steps and Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) competency standards, in order to provide the best women centred care (Australia Collage of Midwives, 2017). This essay will cover a constructive overview of what Page (2006) 5 steps of being a midwife means, it will also defined what women centred care is and emphasis on the importance it has for the woman. Understanding Page (2006) 5 steps and women centred care helped build the pathway for midwifery philosophy to correlate with NMBA competency standard in order to support midwifery practice. For

This essay will explore why consent and confidentiallity is important in midwifery practice. It will look into why it is needed and what can happen if these aspects are breeched in anyway. The National Health service was founded in 1948, this brought free healthcare to everyone. In 1902 the Midwives act becomes a law and midwifery became an established profession, fast forward to 2004 the midwives rules and standards are published and then amended in 2012 and in 2008 the code of conduct was brought into practice. These publications are legal documents in which all nurse and midwives must abide by. In these documents there are clear rules that surround both consent and confidentiality (NHS Choices 2014)

The Australian College of Midwives believes that it is the right of every pregnant woman to have access to continuity of care by a known midwife for her pregnancy, labour and early postnatal period. Midwives are the most appropriate primary care providers for healthy mothers and newborn babies and are able to refer to specialist medical care if the need arises (Hicks, Spurgeon & Barwell, 2003). Midwives must work within the competency standards enforced by The ANMC Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council (2006) in order to obtain and practice as a registered midwife in Australia. Competency 4 states Midwives should “promote safe and effective practice” (ANMC, 2006), this is achievable by providing Midwifery continuity of care to women and

The nursing and midwifery code of conduct makes sure that staff are properly trained to do their job properly and that people can trust them doing their job, and that they trust them with their health and wellbeing, and it makes sure that staff are trustworthy and that they can treat people with respect. The nursing and midwifery code of conduct makes sure that: staff treat people as individuals so that their privacy and dignity is protected, and that they are not discriminated against, peoples confidentiality must be respected, you must disclose information if it is believed that someone is in danger. And it makes sure that consent is gained, such as when providing care or treatment. This affects patient care as the Code of Conduct ensures that people are treated correctly and that boundaries are not being broken, such as patients being abused. It makes sure that people are dealt with properly and that records are kept, and that they are securely

An underlining principle that forms all nursing practice is respect for the inherent dignity, worth, unique attributes, and human rights of all individuals. (Jimenez-Lopez, Roales-Nieto, Seco, Preciado, 2016) Nurses are to always treat all patients with dignity. For example, closing doors before you start providing patient care. It’s also essential as a nurse to respect patients regardless of their background, race, culture, value system, or spiritual belief. (Jimenez-Lopez, et al., 2016)

As a student nurse, I ascertain that the main principle in nursing is the care of my patients, to treat them as individuals and respect their dignity. I feel that it is fundamental to provide a high standard of practice and care at all times. To be open, honest and to work with integrity. The four main principles of the code that I will be working to are outlined by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (Guidance on professional conduct for students of Nursing and Midwifery, 2012).

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) published the expected standards for pre-registration midwifery education. They stated that Student Midwives are required to assist in the care and support of several women throughout their antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum period. This is achieved via the caseload holding scheme (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2009). Midwifery led continuity of care models are described as care given during the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period from a known and trusted midwife in order to empower a woman to have a healthy pregnancy and birth (Sandall, Soltani and Gates, 2016). In September 2005 research was published supporting midwifery-led continuity of care, which they found was linked to a number of benefits for both mothers and babies, in contrast with obstetrically led and shared care (The Royal College of Midwives, 2014).

This assignment will discuss the core values that underpin social and health service delivery and will compare the current health service provision with health care services at the inception of the NHS. The NHS has seven core values that aim to ensure that quality care is delivered to everyone regardless of their gender, religion, race, age, wealth or sexual orientation. These values have been developed by the general public, patients and staff, with local authorities having to develop and adapt these to provide personalised care. These values not only underpin the social and health delivery service, but also influence the legislation regarding care. For example the Care Act 2014 looks at integrating care, involving the patient and carer

Since the Mid Staffordshire trust was investigated by Robert Francis in 2009 regarding the lack of care given to the patients; there has been many changes implemented within the NHS to improve the care and safety of the patients. Some of the recent changes include the whistleblowing policy, implementation of the 6 c’s and the CQC. These were all put into place to try and stop any further problems similar to the Staffordshire scandal in the future. All nurses and midwives must be registered to Professional body in order to practice which could be the NMC. Another way to ensure the safety and best care for the patients is to

In this Assignment, we will be looking at and discussing how the Nursing Midwifery Council’s Code (NMC) can guide the provision of person centred nursing care. What is the NMC’s Code? NMC Code is a list of professional requirements that which the nurses and midwives needs to adhere in order to practice in United Kingdom. This Code also helps the nurses and midwives to maintain their professional standards throughout their career. The Code is divided into four important sections. The sections are Prioritise people, Practise effectively and Preserve safety and Promote professionalism and trust (NMC 2015).

This essay will be relating to an episode of care that was provided to a woman, her partner and their baby on day five during the postnatal period. It will examine the role of the midwife in relation to breastfeeding and how this was not achieved in the case study which is shown in the appendix. Throughout the essay it will look at the following outcomes: the role and responsibility of the midwife within current maternity care provision, the importance of sensitive midwifery, key legal and ethical dimensions of the midwife's role and key sociological and psychological agendas impacting on current maternity care.

NMC (2008) The Code: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives. London: Nursing and Midwifery Council

Being respectful and considerate to your patient is necessary for providing excellent patient care. It is also important to be respectful and considerate to your colleagues; arriving on time, being a team player, doing above the minimum as often as you can are all excellent ways to show this. It is essential to ensure that the workplace is an “environment in which all colleagues enjoy equal respect and where they can advance to their full potential.” (Professionalism initiative, 2012) If everyone treated their colleagues with respect, it would make the workplace very hospitable and help provide better patient care, which is the main purpose of nursing. An environment without respect can become hostile and impair the growth of your colleagues and yourself which can lead to giving substandard care to your patients and their families.