Released on: 15 September 2011

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) today released new figures showing the shortage of midwives in each region across England, and repeated its call for the Government to honour its pledge to recruit more midwives.

Elizabeth Duff, Senior Policy Adviser at NCT, the UK’s largest charity for parents, said:

 

“Midwife shortages are already having an appalling impact on maternity services. NCT’s research report, ‘Left to their own devices’, published last October, found that 42% of first-time mothers surveyed felt there were ‘never’ or ‘only sometimes’ enough midwives to help them in hospital after the birth of their baby. Families are being let down, and urgent action is needed.

 

“Women in need of midwifery care cannot be left to languish on an ever-lengthening waiting list – they need care right away. Midwives are a unique resource, whose expertise in caring for women and their babies is not replicated by any other health professional.

 

“NCT joins in the call for sufficient midwives in post now, and more student places for those in training, so that families can have confidence in improved maternity care for the future.”

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