Fewer midwives at Sherwood Forest Hospitals as union warns of recruitment crisis

The Royal College of Midwives has accused the Government of doing ‘far too little’ to prevent what it calls a recruitment and retention crisis in the profession.

NHS Digital figures show the equivalent of 114.7 full-time midwives were working at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs King’s Mill in Sutton, in December 2021, 2.9 fewer than 117.5 at the same point in 2020.

In 2019, there were the equivalent of 106 full-time midwives working for the trust.

Julie Hogg, trust chief nurse, said: “We are pleased that over the past three years we have welcomed a number of new midwives to SFH, meaning we now have more midwives than in 2019.

“New parents have rated their birthing experience with our midwives highly and told the Care Quality Commission in its most recent survey of maternity experience that our midwives treated them with dignity and respect, included them in decision making and explained things well to them.

“Recruitment and looking after the staff that already work with us, remains a priority.

“If you would like to join a trust staff recommend to both work at and to receive treatment, we would like to hear from you.”

Risk

Across England, there were the equivalent of 337 fewer full-time midwives working for the NHS in December 2021 than in December 2020.

It means there are now 22,192 full-time midwives working on maternity wards nationally.

In March 2021, NHS England announced a recruitment drive for maternity staff, promising £95 million to be spent on recruiting 1,200 midwives and 100 obstetricians.

An NHS England spokesman said: “We recognise we have more to do to bolster our maternity workforce to ensure we can provide the safest possible care for women and their babies.”

Gill Walton, RCM chief executive, warned: “England is still more than 2,000 midwives short of where we need to be. That isn’t good enough.

“While we welcome attempts to train and recruit new midwives, this Government is doing nothing to stop the experienced and qualified ones from leaving.

“At the same time as demands on services and pressures on maternity staff are rising, staff numbers are falling, putting the quality of care and safety of women and babies at risk.”