WARRINGTON and Halton hospital have been able to maintain stable midwife levels, despite staffing shortages across England.

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 across England.

NHS Digital figures show the trust which runs Warrington and Halton hospitals had the equivalent of 91.3 full-time midwives in December of 2021, similar to the 93.2 in December of 2020.

The picture was not the same for the rest of the country, with the equivalent of 337 fewer full-time midwives working for the NHS than at the same point in 2020.

Full-time equivalent measures the proportion of full-time hours an employee is contracted to work, meaning the figures are likely to be lower than the actual headcount of staff — some of whom may work part time.

Catherine Owens, director of midwifery at the two hospitals, has praised an ‘invaluable’ working model which has minimised the impact of the pressures hitting midwifery nationally.

She said: “The trust has recently received its Birth Rate Plus report, which is a national tool to assess staffing levels within maternity services.

“The trust’s Birth Rate midwifery ratio is 1:24, which is in line with the national aim, and we monitor staffing levels daily to ensure safe staffing.

“We are delighted to offer all women care during their pregnancy from a named midwife within a continuity of carer team.

“Most of our midwives work in this model, which increases the availability of where midwives work across all maternity services.

“This has been invaluable during the pandemic when staffing levels have been impacted, and subsequently we have been able to continue our services in line with national guidance.

“The safe staffing of maternity services is the priority of the trust, and we like many other hospitals have worked hard to recruit, and we even have midwives return post retirement.

“This enables us to keep the wealth of experience and clinical skills within the service as we train and develop the next generation of midwives.”

Commenting on the national picture, RCM chief executive Gill Walton warned that England is still more than 2,000 midwives short, which ‘simply is not 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,” she commented.

“At the same time as demands on services and the pressures on maternity staff are rising, staff numbers are going down.

“Despite the often-heroic work of midwives and others to try to plug the gaps, this is putting the quality of care and the safety of women and babies at risk.”

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

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

They said that NHS England is investing a further £127million into maternity services, most of which is earmarked for recruitment, leadership development and retention.