MIDWIVES in the UK are suffering “physical and mental burnout” meaning the safety of mothers and their new babies cannot be guaranteed, a shocking new report revealed today.

Whistleblowers at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust voiced fears which prompted an unannounced visit to the trust’s maternity unit by health service regulatory body the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC said complaints had also been made by patients, and on its visit to the unit it found that it did not have enough money to operate effectively and was badly understaffed.

Amanda Williams, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “Staff were seen to be working above and beyond the call of duty and some staff told inspectors that there were not enough midwifery staff to keep people safe and that they were exhausted.”

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the union representing more than 36,000 midwives, confirmed that the service has serious problems – including student midwives now having to pay their own tuition fees to train.

“Financial constraints on trusts, professional physical and mental burnout, an ageing midwifery workforce nearing retirement and changes to training costs, which now mean student midwives pay their own tuition fees, have all impacted on maternity services attempting to recruit and retain staff,” the union said.

“Before the pandemic, seven out of 10 heads of midwifery told us they were carrying midwife vacancies in their service, with nearly half saying they didn’t have enough maternity support workers and most agreeing that they relied on the goodwill of maternity staff to keep services running and to plug the staffing gap.”

Julie Dawes, chief nurse at HHFT, said that the trust had been forced to redeploy staff from normal workplaces as well as suspend training and education to focus on patient care in the past 18 months.