Battling to deliver:NHS neglect sparks worry among aspiring student midwives for future.

According to BBC Verify analysis recently, the number of full-time midwife positions in England has increased by 7% over the past decade.

Our country is struggling from a shortage of around 3,000 midwives, and in turn, maternity units are seen struggling with safety concerns for the midwives remaining.

This evident lack of care for midwives working within the NHS has not only led to a decrease of midwives across the UK, but also a fall in their mental health. Anxiety, stress, depression and personal burnout are just a few of the mental health issues midwives are having to face as a result.

This arises from the shockingly low figures of safety ratings that maternity received in 2023. Maternity had the worst safety ratings of all hospital services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

 67% of 178 units throughout England were not consistently meeting safety standards. Now, seven in 10 maternity units are not always safe enough and provide enough care for midwives.

 With the shortages in staff continuing to increase due to this neglect, there is an even larger weight on the shoulders of the midwives working throughout the NHS to ensure the correct care is given to expecting mothers.

For student midwives across the country, this recent publicity raises alarms as they prepare to enter the professional industry.

Corrie Izzard, 21, is a student midwife in her final year of her studies.

For Corrie, being a midwife has always been a dream, developing a relationship with the mothers and being at their side throughout the journey which ends in a tiny little miracle is what makes her new job her life.

“That moment when a baby is born, and you just see that little family come together, it is just so beautiful. It’s such a lovely feeling, and it really reminds you of why you’re doing that job, because there can be some hard moments.

It’s tough, it’s really challenging, but just that one moment when everyone’s crying, everyone’s in tears, everyone’s just so happy and in love, and just seeing that come together, it’s amazing.”

 

With this recent publicity throughout the news and media, student midwives across the country are quickly being made aware of the lack of care they will be enduring as they enter the professional world.

When asked how this affects her training and studies as she prepares to enter this profession, she said:

 

“It definitely makes me nervous about going into practice because if the NHS aren’t supporting their own midwives, the ones they’re paying, how are they going to be treating students and recently qualified midwives entering the industry?

“We are such a small part of that demographic, but we are there, and we need people to see us there because a lot of the time we just end up kind of at the bottom of the pile because we’re just in the back of everyone’s minds.”

 

Currently working within a placement at a trust, as she grows closer to hitting her goal of delivering 40 babies, Corrie has been able to see how this publicity has influenced the public’s eye of midwives.

“Women are coming into their care with preconceptions about us midwives and that makes it hard to build that relationship we must gain from the women so quickly that I think having this extra barrier is just making it that little bit harder and putting more weight on the shoulders of midwives.

Phoebe Smith, 20, is also a student midwife in training and when asked what being a midwife means to her, she said:

“Being a midwife is an emotional rollercoaster, it’s exciting but can be very scary and challenging. It’s not just a job, it’s a vocation.

Midwifery has always been Phoebe’s dream, with young Phoebe playing with pregnant dolls and babies, preparing for what her life would be like years later.

However, what little Phoebe didn’t know was alongside this dream came a lack of care waiting for her as she enters the industry.

 

“I’ve seen that side of it. I’ve seen midwives leave from stress and just burnout and everything like that. I’ve witnessed it first-hand and it’s definitely not very reassuring.

“It’s not ideal because it’s such a high stressed environment to be a midwife anyways. Yeah, you’ve got your lovely cases where everything goes smoothly, but there are times where things do go wrong unfortunately, and that’s when you need to have that support from others and your employer.”

 

As she continues her studies further, this includes placements working within hospitals, and this has caused Phoebe to be wary about her career and where she wants to work after.