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Midwife shortage puts new mothers in danger
By Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 25.01.05The lives of mothers and babies at a top London maternity hospital are being put at risk because of a shortage of midwives, a leading doctor warned today.
She said: "Many of the midwives here find it frightening when they see the staffing levels are not optimal and corners are having to be cut to try and give a reasonable amount of care to every woman.
"There are a lot of near misses and I don't think that we can do an awful lot more about it apart from analysing why they have occurred and trying to put in the infrastructure to ensure the problem doesn't happen again."
Professor Regan said her experience at St Mary's was not unique. "My comments reflect a problem across the UK. In most units it's common for a midwife to be looking after two women, sometimes three. Women should have onetoone care." She said there was evidence that such personalised care led to fewer medical interventions such as Caesarean sections.
Professor Regan added: "We should address the chronic underfunding. You can't overspend in maternity."
London and the South-East are among the worst affected areas. Nationwide, the number of midwives in Britain has fallen by 25 per cent in the last 12 years, from 45,000 to 33,600 last year. In London 15 per cent of midwife posts are vacant and in the South-East it is 10 per cent, the highest in the country.
"These figures are alarming," said Dame Karlene Davis, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives which estimates that Britain urgently needs 10,000 more midwives to bring the service to acceptable levels.
"In other parts of the NHS the 'crisis' is cash but in maternity care it's bodies," said an RCM spokesman.
"The reason people are leaving midwifery is not pay and conditions but because they are not getting the chance to practise midwifery the way they want," he said.
One in five student midwives drops out during their studies or within a year of qualifying.
Reader views (3)
I am a midwife and worked a 12-hour shift without a break. I couldn't even go to the toilet despite being desperate. I was looking after 4 women and found it increasingly difficult to focus as tiredness and utter desperation to go to the toilet set in. I had to wet myself and face the embarrassment of finsihing the last hour and a half of my shift in a wet uniform.
- Hannah, Newcastle, England
I am a student midwife who worked 12 hours without a break, even to go to the toilet. 9 hours in I was trying to look after several women while also trying not to wet myself I was that bursting for the toilet.
- Kiri, Newcastle, England
Maternity staff are repeatedly told that they are disposible and that if they are not prepared to work long shifts with no breaks then there are plenty in reserve, desperate for jobs, who are. Similarly, student midwives who are exploited as extra pairs of hands are reminded how lucky they are to be in training at all.
Of course the situation is dangerous, how can somebody who has worked ten -twelve hours overnight with no break, often looking after several women, practice safely? Additionally, staff often miss out on essential training because the wards are so busy they cannot attend.
It is very hard to leave midwifery. Midwives, especially when direct-entry trained, are limited in their career options. Often they stay, depressed and demoralised, because they feel they have no choice. This alone can have a detrimental effect on patient care.
The situation is a sad one but as long as midwives and students allow themselves to be manipulated into believing that they alone are reponsible for 'making a difference' things will not change. Before midwives can truly make a difference to their patients, the government need to make things different for midwives.
- Claire, London, England.
