Calls for EU midwives assurances

Midwives have called for clarification on the status of NHS workers from European Union countries in light of the UK preparing to leave the EU.

Figures shared by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have shown that the equivalent of 1,192 full-time midwives in the NHS in England are from the EU, with London in particular possibly facing a large midwife shortage.

In London alone, 16 per cent of the total midwifery workforce comes from other EU countries, representing 674 full-time midwives.

Outside of London, at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, more than 10 per cent of the midwifery workforce is from elsewhere in the EU.

Jon Skewes, RCM director for policy, employment relations and communications, said: “England is now 3,500 midwives short and, since obtaining these latest figures, the RCM is deeply concerned that the current shortage could worsen to almost 5,000 midwives if midwives from other European countries currently working for the NHS are no longer allowed work in the UK post Brexit.

“It is also immensely unfair that hardworking midwives working for our National Health Service should be left in limbo with regard to their future employment rights in this country. The government needs to provide assurance on job security not only to these midwives, but for thousands of other NHS workers from other EU countries.”