The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the organisation responsible for regulating the profession, has this week published a report highlighting “the ongoing shortfall between the number of midwives and rising birth rates in the UK”.
The report, entitled ‘Supervision, Support and Safety: An Analysis of the 2008 to 2009 Local Supervising Authorities’ Annual Reports to the NMC’ raises concerns about the quality of midwifery care provided to expectant mothers, due to the significant impact the increasing number of births is having on midwife-to-birth ratios.
The NMC’s report also found that, in addition to the rising number of births, the existing midwifery services have been stretched further by an increasing number of complex births, plus potential challenges during pregnancy, such as obesity and substance abuse.
Figures reported to the NMC show that maternity wards in at least six out of ten regions in England closed at some point during 2008-2009 because they could not cope with demand. The reasons given for sending women to other units to give birth, included a shortage of midwives and beds.
The NMC has asked Health Authorities to act on the concerns raised in its report.
NMC Chief Executive and Registrar, Professor Dickon Weir-Hughes, said “Our report has raised a number of key concerns about the future of maternity services in the UK. An increasing birth rate was reported from all Local Supervising Authorities, bar one, and this has had a significant impact on midwife to birth ratios in several areas.
“Although successful efforts have been made to boost the numbers of midwives in many regions, others are still lagging behind and this problem could worsen as a significant proportion of experienced midwives and supervisors of midwives are now approaching retirement age.
“The NMC urges maternity service providers, related health authorities and the UK health departments to monitor the situation and act swiftly if LSAs raise concerns about the quality of care provided to mother and babies”.
Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said the midwifery profession was “still playing catch-up” as birth rates continue to rise in the UK, and warned “there is still a long way to go to match midwife numbers to birth rates, and take pressure off the system”.
The Department of Health said it has set a goal to recruit an extra 4,000 midwives by 2012.
Gemma Castrofilippo, clinical negligence solicitor for Leigh Day & Co solicitors said:
"This current shortage of midwives should be addressed by the NHS as soon as possible. A shortage of trained midwifery staff makes it more likely that avoidable mistakes will continue to be made during the delivery of babies."
If you or your child has suffered a birth injury due to lack of midwifery care, please contact one of our in-house nurses, Anne McCrea or Denise McAneny.
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