Today, Friday, Midwives’ Day is celebrated all over the world.
But in several places in Sweden there is a great shortage of midwives in maternity care.
At the same time, we are entering the period of the year when the most children are born.
Emma Jonsson, midwife and chairwoman of the Swedish Nursing Association’s Stockholm branch, thinks the situation in maternity care is worrying ahead of the summer period.
– It is serious that you fail to plan. We are at the beginning of May and there are no schedules ready for how we will work this summer.
The fact that the same problem arises before every summer period lately is beyond her understanding.
– It’s like summer comes as a surprise every year, even though it’s very predictable.
Many work part-time
There are many trained midwives in Sweden. If everyone had been able to work full time, the situation would have looked better. But midwives not being able to work as midwives full-time is a big problem.
– We have a lot of midwives today who work part-time. Around 60 percent of them. If all of them were to go full-time, if the working conditions improved and you could bear it, then we could have one birth per midwife.
Although most midwives are passionate about their profession, several have chosen to leave recently, due to the working conditions.
– Very sad. The vast majority of midwives are really passionate about their profession, about women’s health and the pregnant women giving birth. But it’s a lot about the conditions and the working environment, which are too tough. We work with ourselves as tools in the birth situation, even before and after, and it takes a toll on us.
“Bite ourselves”
Emma Jonsson says that everyone who will give birth in the near future will have a midwife by their side.
– We will do everything we can to ensure that you have a midwife by your side when you give birth. It is a concern that midwives are so incredibly loyal to those who give birth and to their colleagues. Biting ourselves in the tail a bit there. We have to pay with our own health but we do the absolute best we can.