Recruit 5000 more NHS midwives in England

Responsible department: Department of Health

More babies were born in England in 2010 than in any year since 1972, whilst births to women aged 30 or older were at their highest since 1946. The NHS is desperately short of midwives, and the shortage affects every region of England. We need urgent action from the Government, including a target to recruit the equivalent of 5000 more full-time midwives. Care for women but especially babies at the very start of life should be shielded from the cuts.

This is an e petition to H M Government. I would have worded it differently, but there again I am a simple being who would just go to the heart of the problem. The whole world, literally, interprets the current staffing issue within the maternity services as being down to a shortage of  trained midwives but that isn’t the situation, there are plenty of us. The issue is the employment of midwives, and the crux of the matter is funding. The Trusts are having to budget so harshly that coal-face staff numbers are being trimmed to below the quick, and not just midwives, other professionals as well. We do need to recruit more midwives but to do this we need to improve the funding, be shielded from the cuts yes, but also improve the monies available to the maternity services, not for paper-shuffling exercises but to employ more midwives.

Anyway, here’s the link, it can’t do any harm so please sign  the e petition here.

 

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