Lean staffing

Re Maternity care gaps alarming (April 14), I agree there are registered nurses working in the obstetric unit in Wellington Hospital, but dispute that these nurses are simply filling the gaps.

Our daughter was employed as a Registered Nurse in the postnatal ward to look after medically sick patients, which is not within the scope of midwifery practice. She has been trained and is well able to assist with breastfeeding.

She works professionally and proficiently within her scope of practice and can recognise warning signs in a sick mother or baby.

She has been called on many times by her midwifery colleagues to assist with a medical or postoperative situation.

The problem is not which professional is best to work in the maternity units but rather that the wards are always short-staffed; they are staffed on the leanest possible number of personnel. On many shifts there is no time to have a break for coffee or a meal, and many of these workers are working 12-hour shifts.

The comments of the chief executive of the College of Midwives are most unhelpful and could serve to create division between health professionals. Kathy Sharpe, Strathmore Park