24.04.14
80% of NHS trusts have midwife vacancies
Despite the ongoing baby boom in the UK there seems to be a major shortfall in the number of qualified midwives, a BBC freedom of information request has revealed.
BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour found that 80% of NHS trusts have vacancies for qualified midwives and nearly a quarter of the trusts in England have not assessed their workforce needs in the past four years.
In the 99 trusts that replied to the FOI inquiries, there were 561 vacancies at the turn of the year, ranging from a 17.8% vacancy rate at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust to the fully-staffed Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
The National Audit Office said in November that the NHS needed 2,300 more midwives, although the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) puts the figure at 4,800.
Commenting on the new figures, RCM chief executive Cathy Warwick said: “We very much welcome the findings of this FOI. It is worrying that a quarter of NHS trusts have not conducted any kind of assessment of the number of midwives they need to employ for more than five years – some have not done so for more than a decade.
“Meanwhile, the number of births is booming – 2012 saw more births than any year since 1971. And, even then, four in every five NHS trusts say they have midwife vacancies – a situation that we feel is getting worse, not better. This has to change.”
Dr Dan Poulter, the health minister, said the government was determined to ensure that the maternity workforce was large enough to cope with rising demand, and that a record total of 6,000 midwives are being trained.
"The NHS is a safe place to give birth, with women reporting high levels of trust and confidence in staff,” he said.
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