Midwife shortage 'dangerously high'

Parts of England are facing dangerously high shortages of midwives as Britain's birthrate rockets, according to the Royal College of Midwives.

While there are shortfalls across the country, some areas are worse than others, putting mothers and babies at risk.

Midwife numbers have not kept pace with the birthrate in England, which has risen 22% in the past two decades.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been urged by the RCM to honour his pre-election pledge to recruit more midwives.

The RCM report said 4,700 more midwives were needed across England to keep up with added pressures, such as growing numbers of obese and older pregnant women.

Their figures showed the North East and North West had a shortfall of less than 10%, while the East Midlands and east of England needed 41% more midwives, it was reported.

Meanwhile, the South East was said to be more than a third short of staff.

While the North East needed only 91 extra midwives, the South East required an extra 1,015.

A medium-sized maternity unit delivering 3,000 babies a year would need around 91 midwives, according to the RCM.

Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the RCM, said: "This is not just a paper exercise to prove a point. These figures represent real and serious shortages in our maternity services.

"Each single number is a midwife that should be there caring for women and their babies, but isn't.

"It is also not just about numbers. Births are also becoming increasingly complex, needing more of midwives' time.

"The combination of this and the rising birthrate is a dangerous cocktail threatening the safety and quality of maternity care.

"It means that too many maternity units across England are under-staffed and under-resourced to meet the demands made of them. It leaves me feeling deeply frustrated that we are not seeing any action from this Government to remedy this."

The calculations were made by measuring the number of midwives in an area against the number of babies.

The disparity is a result of different levels of investment in different areas, the RCM said,.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have midwife shortages at the moment, it added.

The number of midwives has increased by 17.7% from 2000 to 2010, according to the Department of Health.

The country's birthrate has risen 19.9% in the same period, according to the Office for National Statistics.

There were 26,825 midwives working in the UK at the end of September last year.

There were 493 more midwives working in May 2011 than in May 2010.

A DoH spokeswoman said: "Record numbers (of midwives) entered training last year and there are 2,490 planned midwifery training places this year.

"Safety is paramount in the NHS and all mothers and their babies should expect and receive consistently excellent maternity care.

"Most women tell us that they feel positive about their maternity care experience.

"The Care Quality Commission last year found that 94% of women rated their care during labour and birth as 'good, very good or excellent'. This is a testament to the hard work that our maternity staff provide every day in the NHS."

Mandy Luckman, a medical negligence lawyer and partner at Irwin Mitchell, said: "It is vital that the Government and the NHS do everything in their power to address the shortage of midwives which is affecting so many regions of the UK.

"We have seen first-hand the devastating problems that mothers and babies can face when they do not have access to the best possible care, with birth injuries and complications in pregnancy often leading youngsters to need a lifetime of rehabilitation and care.

"This research from the Royal College of Midwives only serves to suggest that there is much to be done to ensure that families have the best support in what is often the most important time of their lives.

"The suggestion that the extent of the shortages is placing mothers and children at risk is a huge concern and this issue needs to be examined as a matter of clear urgency.

"Patient safety should always be a priority for both the NHS and Government, and they need to show signs that action will be taken immediately on this very serious matter."

PA