The evolving relationship between public health and midwifery in the United Kingdom.

Abstract

Readers will agree that public health and health promotion are the responsibility of everybody, not just those working in the field of public health. For this reason, health promotion and disease prevention have long been part of the midwife’s role. However, in several countries, such as the United Kingdom, the role and responsibilities of the midwife have expanded over the decades to incorporate additional public health issues. Many of these new public health tasks may require a lot of training and education of, and adaptation by, midwives. Given, the worldwide shortage of midwives, this increase in responsibilities may challenge midwives’ fulfilling their more traditional task of providing midwifery and maternity care. This raises the question whether midwifery and public health can find the balance between being perfect partners and unhappy bedfellows. There has been an increase in specialised midwifery posts related to public health topics. This commentary article highlighted problems and concerns that have arisen, including alternatives and related opportunities. Midwifery is a unique profession; we should be careful not to add too many roles and tasks which potentially detract from core midwifery practices, without considering the implications of this on staff’s workload, and consequently on maternity service users.