Staffing levels are the real area of concern when it comes to maternity. In England alone, there is an estimated shortage of 3,500 midwives.
There are training places for around 2,500 student midwives a year, but this rate of training is not meeting demand. In the year to September 2016, the number of midwives in England rose by just 104 – the equivalent of one extra midwife per average maternity unit every two years.
A third of midwives in England and Wales are in their fifties or sixties
This is thanks in part to poor retention of newly trained midwives, and the fact that many midwives are now reaching or approaching retirement. The latter has raised fears that the profession is facing a staffing timebomb.
Figures show that around a third of midwives in England and Wales, and two in five in Northern Ireland, are now in their fifties or sixties. The picture in Scotland is similar, with two in five midwives and maternity assistants now aged 50 or older.
Older mothers need more care
Mothers, too, are getting older, which means they require more care, on average, from maternity services.
According to the Royal College of Midwives, “Women who give birth later in life will need more care from the NHS”. Since 2001, the number of births per year to women over 40 has increased by over 12,000.
The Royal College of Midwives’ State of Maternity Services Report 2016 suggests that midwives may be leaving profession because of “the lack of flexible working for those juggling family commitments”, and it suggests that more flexible working options are needed.
Dr Javque Gerrard, director for England at the Royal College of Midwives, said:
“We are not against the STP plans and are very supportive of the Maternity Transformation Programme.
“It is staffing levels we are concerned about.
“We need the right number of midwives in the right places to make it happen.”
