Thursday, 15th September 2011
England’s regions are facing serious midwife shortages says the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). Releasing new figures showing the shortages of midwives in each region, the RCM repeats its call for David Cameron to honour his pre-election pledge to recruit more midwives.
When new birth rate statistics were released last month the RCM said 4700 more midwives were needed across England. Now the RCM’s regional figures show the seriousness of this shortage across the country’s regions.
The shortages range from 91 in the North East to 1015 in the South East. Most regions are facing serious shortages with London needing 862 more midwives, the East of England 780, and the East Midlands 600. All are large and serious shortages.
Other areas need many hundreds with the West Midlands needing 418 more midwives, Yorkshire & the Humber 370, the South West 271 and the North West 257.
Some shortages, such at the 91 midwives needed in the North East may not sound large by comparison. However, 91 midwives would staff a medium sized maternity unit delivering 3,200 babies per year. A figure that sounds relatively small represents in midwifery terms, a significant shortfall.
Midwife shortages have a real and significant impact on the quality of care and the choices available to women. It means that women wanting and expecting a home birth are denied one. It will mean midwife-led units close, permanently or temporarily, leaving many disappointed woman who wanted to give birth in them. Breastfeeding rates will not improve because there are not enough midwives to offer women the help and support they need, particularly in the postnatal period.
Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, 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.”
Regional statistics: Birthrate, increase since 2001, increase since 2009 and number of midwives needed
London
133 111 live births in 2010
+28 949 or 28% since 2001
+3 866 or 3.0% since 2009
Midwives needed: 862
South East
106 434 live births in 2010
+17 924 or 20% since 2001
+2 765 or 3% since 2009
Midwives needed: 1015
East of England
73 001 live births in 2010
+12 911 or 22% since 2001
+1 666 or 2% since 2009
Midwives needed: 780
East Midlands
55 232 live births in 2010
+10 590 or 24% since 2001
+1 486 or 3% since 2009
Midwives needed: 600
West Midlands
72 090 live births in 2010
+11 272 or 19% since 2001
+1 048 or 2% since 2009
Midwives needed: 418
Yorkshire & the Humber
66 970 live births in 2010
+11 345 or 20% since 2001
+612 or 1% since 2009
Midwives needed – 370
South West
60 144 live births in 2010
+11 397 or 23% since 2001
+1 806 or 3% since 2009
Midwives needed: 271
North West
89 199 live births in 2010
+13 998 or 19% since 2001
+1 650 or 2% since 2009
Midwives needed: 257
North East
30 826 live births in 2010
+4 877 or 19% since 2001
+1 050 or 4% since 2009
Midwives needed: 91
ENGLAND
687 007 live births in 2010
+123 263 or 22% since 2001
+15 949 or 2% since 2009
Midwives needed: 4664
For more information contact the RCM Press Office on 020 7312 3456, pressofficer@rcm.org.uk.
Notes to editors
The Royal College of Midwives is the voice of midwifery. We are the UK’s only trade union and professional organisation led by midwives for midwives. The vast majority of the midwifery profession are our members. The RCM promotes midwifery, quality maternity services and professional standards. We support and represent our members individually and collectively in all four UK countries. We influence on behalf of our members and for the interests of the women and families for which they care. For more information visit the RCM website at www.rcm.org.uk.
The RCM’s General Secretary Cathy Warwick has lodged an e-petition with Parliament calling for the Government to set a target of 5,000 more NHS midwives in England (Parliament only has authority for the NHS in England). Any UK citizen or anyone resident in the UK can sign, online, at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/13716. It went “live” on August 22nd and already has garnered 5,744 signatures (as of Sept. 13th). It’s the 25th most popular on the system, out of a total of 6,912 petitions, meaning it has more support that 99.6% of petitions on the site as of (Sept. 13th).
