Irish Wedding News
30/09/2013
It added that the lives of expectant mothers and their unborn babies are being put at risk because they are made to travel to alternative hospitals.
The report, by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), says that a number of units are "bursting at the seams" and are unable to cope with the demand.
Reasons for Britain's high birth rate include an influx of migrants of child-bearing age, as well as an increase in the numbers of women in their 40s giving birth, having delayed motherhood to further their careers.
Elsewhere, the report discovered that more than a quarter of maternity units have been forced to restrict their home-birthing services over the last year to free their staff to work on the labour wards instead.
Midwives admitted a rise in the number of complicated births as well, in part due to mothers who are older, or more obese. As a result, maternity units are struggling to cope.
Despite an additional 1,000 midwives being employed by the NHS over the past couple of years, the RCM has revealed some 5,000 more are needed to ensure both mothers and babies are cared for fully.
Of the 91 senior midwives who were surveyed, 46% said they had been forced to close their unit to women in labour at least once in the past 12 months, while a fifth said their budget had been cut A further third admitted they did not have enough money for the necessary numbers of staff.
Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the RCM, said: "Despite welcome increases in midwife numbers, this survey describes a worrying picture of our maternity services, and one that shows it is not improving.
"The midwifery shortages and cuts to services it describes will have a detrimental impact on the care women, babies and their families receive.
"This shows a service that sometimes severely restricts the choices available to women, is struggling to provide continuity of care and is bursting at the seams in its ability to cope.
"The temporary closures it highlights are just the tip of the iceberg.
"Before closures happen, services have already been stretched to their limit, and closing is the point at which safety could be compromised if that does not happen.
"I have deep misgivings about the quality of the service midwives and maternity support workers are able to provide, working in such an unstable, pressure-cooker atmosphere."
(JP/CD)
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Half Of Maternity Wards Turn Away Mothers
A new report has warned that half of maternity wards are being forced to turn away women in labour because they are too busy.It added that the lives of expectant mothers and their unborn babies are being put at risk because they are made to travel to alternative hospitals.
The report, by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), says that a number of units are "bursting at the seams" and are unable to cope with the demand.
Reasons for Britain's high birth rate include an influx of migrants of child-bearing age, as well as an increase in the numbers of women in their 40s giving birth, having delayed motherhood to further their careers.
Elsewhere, the report discovered that more than a quarter of maternity units have been forced to restrict their home-birthing services over the last year to free their staff to work on the labour wards instead.
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Midwives admitted a rise in the number of complicated births as well, in part due to mothers who are older, or more obese. As a result, maternity units are struggling to cope.
Despite an additional 1,000 midwives being employed by the NHS over the past couple of years, the RCM has revealed some 5,000 more are needed to ensure both mothers and babies are cared for fully.
Of the 91 senior midwives who were surveyed, 46% said they had been forced to close their unit to women in labour at least once in the past 12 months, while a fifth said their budget had been cut A further third admitted they did not have enough money for the necessary numbers of staff.
Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the RCM, said: "Despite welcome increases in midwife numbers, this survey describes a worrying picture of our maternity services, and one that shows it is not improving.
"The midwifery shortages and cuts to services it describes will have a detrimental impact on the care women, babies and their families receive.
"This shows a service that sometimes severely restricts the choices available to women, is struggling to provide continuity of care and is bursting at the seams in its ability to cope.
"The temporary closures it highlights are just the tip of the iceberg.
"Before closures happen, services have already been stretched to their limit, and closing is the point at which safety could be compromised if that does not happen.
"I have deep misgivings about the quality of the service midwives and maternity support workers are able to provide, working in such an unstable, pressure-cooker atmosphere."
(JP/CD)
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