Midwives warn unsafe staffing is putting mothers and babies at risk

Nation.Cymru staff

Nine in 10 midwives in Wales say unsafe staffing levels are affecting patient care, a new survey has found.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Cymru said 94% of respondents believed staffing shortages were having a direct impact on patient care, while almost eight in 10 reported that their unit had been operating without safe staffing levels during a single week in June.

The findings are based on responses from 219 midwives, maternity support workers and midwifery students in Wales, collected as part of a UK-wide survey.

According to the survey, 79% of respondents said their unit was not safely staffed between 1 and 7 June, while 68% said staffing levels had felt unsafe on more than half of their shifts over the previous month.

The survey also suggests the pressures are contributing to a growing retention crisis, with 79% saying they had either left or considered leaving the profession during the past year. The most commonly cited reasons were staffing levels, patient safety concerns, work-life balance and the impact on mental health.

Julie Richards, Director of RCM Cymru, said the findings should act as a warning to ministers and NHS employers.

“Midwives are dedicated professionals who want to deliver the safest possible care for women and families. The fact that so many feel unsafe staffing levels affects the care they can give should be a wake-up call to the Welsh Government and employers alike.”

The survey also found unpaid overtime had become commonplace.

More than three-quarters (77%) said they had worked additional unpaid hours during a single working week, while one in five reported working more than five unpaid hours beyond their contracted time.

Meanwhile, a third of respondents said they had not had a full 24-hour break from work during the week surveyed, and 40% said they had not received the 11 consecutive hours of rest between shifts required under working time regulations.

Ms Richards said the findings demonstrated the strain staff were working under.

“When midwives are routinely working unpaid overtime, missing breaks and caring for more women than is safe, it is impossible to ignore the impact that has on both staff and the quality of care.

“Safe staffing is not optional – it is the foundation of safe maternity services.

“These findings show that the pressures facing maternity services have not gone away. Midwives are exhausted, overstretched and too often unable to provide the standard of care they trained to deliver.

“What is urgently needed is action: investment in the workforce, fair pay that helps retain experienced staff, and a commitment to ensuring every woman can receive safe, high-quality maternity care.”

The findings were released as student midwives staged a protest outside the Senedd on Wednesday, where they raised concerns about staffing pressures and the future of the profession.

The First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, met the students during the demonstration and listened to their concerns, according to the Royal College of Midwives.

Workforce strategy

The Welsh Government said: “We are grateful for the work of RCM Cymru on this survey, and we take the findings with the utmost seriousness.

“A long-term overarching workforce strategy for NHS Wales will be developed in partnership and published in the autumn. This timetable reflects our commitment to getting it right as quickly as possible.

“Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), the strategic workforce body for NHS Wales, have published the Strategic Perinatal Workforce plan which prioritises workforce, training, and education recommendations from multiple UK reports into maternity and neonatal services.

“All health boards in Wales are expected to be staffed to Birthrate plus standards which is a nationally recognised assessment model for midwifery staffing.”