PROFITEERING employment agencies are pocketing millions in NHS cash by charging outrageous fees hiring out midwives to plug gaps created by government underfunding.

Fees of up to £2,100 have been charged for one midwife to work a single shift, analysis of figures by the Labour Party found.

NHS trusts in England this year spent over £112 million on agency and “bank midwives” — midwives who offer themselves for temporary employment — an increase of 22 per cent over 2021/22.

Total spending on agency and bank midwives over the last five years was £442m.

One third of NHS Trusts reported spending £1,000 for a single midwifery shift.

The largest amount spent by one Trust on agency midwives last year was £16.7m at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which runs four hospitals in Greater Manchester.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said the NHS has a shortfall of over 2,500 midwives in England and that staffing levels were repeatedly cited as a cause for concern around the safety of care.

The union said that midwives and maternity support workers are exhausted. 

Sally Ashton May, RCM's midwifery policy and practice director, told the Morning Star: “We need a sustainable midwifery workforce, which is based crucially on retaining the skilled and experienced staff the NHS already has, as well as recruiting new midwives into the profession.

“Only if both these things happen will we address the acute and chronic shortage of midwives working in the NHS."

Shadow health minister Karin Smyth said: “The Conservatives have failed to train enough midwives over the past 13 years, leaving the NHS at the mercy of rip-off recruitment agencies."

The Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England were invited to comment.