The Professional Midwifery Advocate

As we are all now aware, statutory supervision in midwifery has been revoked and the 2012 Rules and Standards are no longer functional. Unprecedented changes within the profession are ongoing, leaving midwives in somewhat of a quandary. Of course, The Code (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2015) can still help to determine the standards of practice required, but midwives are familiar with having dedicated reference documents that specifically take into account the needs of women and families.

Statutory supervision has been replaced by the voluntary, employer-led role of the Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA). Although it is voluntary, the role is written into the NHS contract and will be one of the key lines of enquiry in Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections. It is too early to identify if there is likely to be any national standardisation, which might leave midwives somewhat confused. So how are PMAs trained and what might their role look like?