University News Last updated 13 April 2015
Labour must back up its promise of 3,000 more midwives by tackling the spiralling stress levels currently forcing thousands of NHS professionals to leave the service each year, according to a Birmingham City University expert.
"We don't just simply need more midwives, their working environment needs to be improved to stop so many leaving the profession," said Alison Edwards, senior lecturer in midwifery at Birmingham City University - the largest provider of qualified health and social care professionals to the NHS in the West Midlands region.
Commenting on Labour leader Ed Miliband's manifesto launch today, in which the party pledged to preserve the NHS by injecting an extra £2.5 billion a year, Ms Edwards highlighted how 30 per cent of sickness absence in the NHS is due to stress and a third of midwives leave the profession within 10 years of qualifying.
"Many midwives work part-time, yet the stress and sickness rates are still very high. So many midwives have such hectic workloads that they're working for free and over their contracted hours."
Ms Edwards also cautioned on Labour's commitment to one-to-one midwife care, warning that patients should not be given promises that cannot be met.
"Women having a designated midwife is actually very old news and has been on the table for years.
"Many women do see the same midwife in the antenatal and postnatal periods already, but midwives don't always rotate into the labour areas. If a woman's labour lasts for a number of shifts then naturally they'll see different midwives, so Miliband's pledge of one-to-one care won't always work."