UK Baby Boom Puts Midwives In Crisis

UK Baby Boom Puts Midwives In Crisis

With increasingly more and more babies being born in the United Kingdom every year, The Royal College of Midwives is sending out the plain and simple message that at least another 4,700 of the birthing experts will be needed to handle the rising baby boom crisis.

As any parent will know babies doesn’t come cheap, but despite the country facing  economic gloom and doom and many families having to juggle their weekly expenses just to make ends meet, the baby boom in the UK is in full swing and higher than it has been for the past 40-years.

This inevitably is having a serious knock-on effect and piling added pressure on midwivery staff.

The birthrate in England and Wales last year saw a rise of 2.4 per cent, that’s 723,165 babies born, with a steady increase of women having more than one child compared to findings in 2010.

“The Government has committed to protecting student midwife training places, but this is only for one year and does little good if there are no jobs for those midwives to go to.

“The issue of midwives numbers needs to be on the agenda with this government and these figures show that it needs to right at the top of that agenda.

“Midwives are working harder and doing more with less maternity services and the quality of care in suffering.

“I appeal to David Cameron to accept what the figures are telling him”, said Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives.