Motion no: 16
The birth of a baby is a significant life event and many parents capture this moment on video and by taking photos. This has always been supported and facilitated by the midwives caring for the women and their partner during labour.
Recently we are finding a small number of ‘social media influencers’ who are videoing their labour and birth for BLOGS. These recording are being posted on social media sites and payment is changing hands. This is a business venture the woman and or their partners have engaged in.
Midwives are finding themselves in a situation where they have not consented to being recorded and are being told they will be edited out. Recording equipment is being brought into and used in a clinical setting which is potentially disruptive to care and may negatively impact on safety in a clinical environment.
Some of these recordings are taking place covertly with the use of cameras placed in the room without the midwives knowledge or consent.
If Television crews or other media wish to record or report from health care settings they must obtain consent and follow strict guidelines. Why should staff have to deal with the public freely recording in health care settings without consent or following any guidelines.
The recordings made by the woman or their family members enables them to decide what they wish to share or post on their social media site but the midwife has no say in this matter. Midwives have no control over this recorded material.
Midwives are effectively being recorded without their consent and the videos are being shared for financial gain. This is totally unacceptable.
We call on conference to support this motion to actively raise awareness of this issue and to support a campaign of education and awareness raising for our members and the public. Midwives are already working in difficult and stressful situation where their focus is rightly on safe care for the women. It is not always possible to avoid cameras in health care settings as that could impact adversely on clinical care.
We need to give control to the midwives to ensure they have the right to consent or not, to this type of activity and to ensure employers provide effective guidelines to their staff which protects their privacy and their rights to give or withhold consent and to ensure the working environment meets all health and safety requirements.
We need to work to ensure our staff are protected while also ensures that parents have every reasonable opportunity to record one of the most important events of their lives.
The rights of our members to work in an environment that is safe and free from additional stress must be ensured to enable them to carry out their duties in the safest and most appropriate way.
