The Royal College of Midwives today released a survey of heads of midwifery across the country which has revealed that, while births are on the rise, two thirds claim that their units were understaffed and more than one in five saying they had lost staff last year.
Quoted in the Daily Telegraph, Louise Silverton, the deputy general secretary of the college said:
"Heads of midwifery are in charge of making sure that women have a good birthing experience and that is very hard when a third of those who responded to our survey said their maternity services budget had been cut, that a total recruitment freeze was still in place in many units and that newly-qualified midwives are not getting jobs.
"This survey should make it very clear that maternity services are being pared back at a time when the Government's manifesto pledges to give all women choice over where and how they give birth as well as being supported by the same midwife throughout her pregnancy.
"Unless midwifery services are expanded there is no hope of these manifesto commitments being achieved."
The report goes on to cite cutbacks in the use of qualified staff and in training budgets, with a third saying their training budget had been cut by more than 75% and two thirds by over 50%. 66% of senior midwives who responded also reported that their NHS trusts were in deficit in 2005-06.
MPs need to decide whether, faced with clear shortages such as this, they are going to approve sending billions more pounds to the audit-failing EU when the EU budget deal comes before Parliament, or more properly save that money for such essential services.
Particularly Labour MPs, when such a service relates to a clear manifesto commitment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment