Record number of midwives in search of lifeline support
The harrowing case of Lucy Letby has allegedly prompted thousands of midwives to confide in a leading mental health charity for support.
Yesterday, 11th March 2024, The Laura Hyde Foundation, a leading UK mental health charity, published new figures which show they received 3,074 calls in 2023 – up 119% on 2002 when there were 1,402.
The charity, which was founded in late 2017, said they felt the Lucy Letby case was behind the huge spike in requests for help.
Labelled as one of the most ‘sickening’ cases to have hit UK headlines, in August 2023 Lucy Letby was sentenced to life in prison after she was found guilty for having murdered seven babies at the Countess of Chester’s Hospital.
Liam Barnes, chairman of the Laura Hyde Foundation, said: ‘Requests for our support have risen dramatically across all sectors – but the rise is especially stark among midwives. In fact, we are supporting the largest number of midwives in our history right now.’
‘There are likely to be many reasons for this, including the Lucy Letby case,’ Liam said. ‘As a charity we are concerned the Letby trial tarred many excellent midwives with the same brush and has sadly led to many midwives finding themselves being suspected of negligible and criminal behaviour, often without any evidence. Understandably, this often causes significant distress to the individual, their colleagues, and their family.’
Liam added: ‘Our services are needed more than ever, and we need more funding and support from the government to deliver the right interventions.’
In addition, one woman who works at a hospital in the north-east of England said the Lucy Letby case ‘cast a black cloud over the entire midwifery service.’
She said: ‘I am not surprised to see that many colleagues are struggling and feeling on the end of a backlash.
‘The reality is the majority of midwives in the NHS are incredibly hard-working and we sweat blood and tears for our patients and their babies.
‘But all too often we are facing an uphill battle because services are so stretched which can have a knock on effect on morale. In some hospitals where friends of mine work it’s been at rock bottom for a while now.’
However, the trauma the midwives are facing isn’t even the health of it, according to the mental health charity. The new data shows they were contacted on 11,119 occasions in 2023 by emergency service workers.
This is up from 7,288 in 2022 and 5,422 in 2021, meaning the demand for the charity’s services have increased by 205% within two years.
Alarmingly, more than half of those who contacted the LHF last year – 5,815 – said they had either suffered suicidal thoughts or undertaken suicidal activity.
Liam said: ‘2023 saw a record number of emergency service workers reaching out to the Laura Hyde Foundation for support with many showing signs of suicidal ideation.
‘We are seeing a swell of people struggling to deal with a number of items such as cost of living crisis, a post covid grieving process as well as abhorrent abuse aimed at them from the public or indeed their own management.
‘Our emergency services workers are people that often do the work for the simple love of helping people, a cornerstone of our NHS. Given their relatively low pay and long working hours, it is their unwavering desire to try and help people that gives them their job satisfaction and then that is questioned, it often has dire consequences.’
Image: ThorstenF
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