Four out of five hospitals have too few midwives, despite the ongoing baby boom, official NHS figures reveal.

Midwife shortages are so acute in some parts of England that hospitals have almost one in five posts in their maternity units unfilled, according to responses to freedom of information requests.

In January, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust had a vacancy rate of 17.8%, the highest in England, which means it is 32 midwives below the 208 it needs, according to research conducted by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

Reported by the Guardian. You can read the full story here.

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.