ABSTRACT
The implications for the individual members of staff have been investigated by an online survey. This chapter focuses on some of the survey's findings. It addresses crucial aspects of the data, such as staff shortages, midwives' fears, and the role of the statutory regulator. The chapter describes feminist principles of valuing agency, the individual's experiences, and achieving social change. It outlines an online questionnaire specifically for the survey, drawing on a Royal College of Nursing survey in its preparation. The chapter selects three areas which graphically illustrate the reality of their experience of practice, as recounted by the midwife and student respondents. It shows a range of factors which serve to interfere with the optimal functioning, and practice, of many of the midwife and student respondents. The survey showed clearly that midwives and students were all too aware of how maternity services are intended to provide high-quality care for women, as well as their babies and their families.
