Study highlights excessive pressure on maternity services

The Royal College of Midwives has published a report that suggests the UK's maternity services are facing more pressure than they can cope with at the moment.

According to the survey of UK senior midwives, more than two-fifths of maternity units had to close temporarily during the last year because they could not cope with the demand, reflecting the rising pressure caused by increasingly complex births and low staffing levels.

Around one-quarter of those polled said they simply did not have enough midwives at present, with the royal college's estimates indicating the country is short of 2,600 full-time midwives.

The report also indicated that senior midwives are highly frustrated with the budgetary limitations they are facing, while one-fifth disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement 'maternity is a priority in my organisation'.

Concerns were also raised that the combination of these issues is having a negative impact on the quality of care.

Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "When services are operating at or beyond their capacity, safety is compromised and mistakes can and almost certainly will be made, through no fault of the dedicated staff delivering the service."