Arrowe Park Hospital to cut midwife numbers

Feb 9 2010 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Echo

Arrowe Park hospital 320

A MERSEYSIDE hospital is cutting the number of midwives it employs – despite investing more than £11m in a new women and children’s wing.

Nine midwives on temporary contracts at Arrowe Park will leave the hospital at the end of March.

The trust says the workers were only ever employed on a short term basis, as a way to provide experience until the end of their training period.

But one midwife says she doesn’t know how the remaining staff will cope without the extra workers.

She said: “We were told that due to financial efficiencies they can’t offer us a permanent or longer term contract.

“I feel for the other midwives left as it is just so busy.

“We were all rushed off our feet as it was, so I don’t know how it will be with nine less staff.

“It costs the NHS £45,000 to train a midwife, but then we finish and there are no jobs, it is just such a waste.

“They say the country is crying out for midwives but we are here, and there are no jobs for many.

“On one shift I was looking after nine women and was concerned I was not giving the right level of care as it was.

“It will be worse when we have gone.

“We were not under any illusions, we knew the contacts were temporary and may not be renewed, but the whole system seems wrong.”

Linda Birch, head of midwifery at the hospital, said the department’s staffing levels still meet accepted standards: “Staff employed at the trust on a short-term basis are never guaranteed a permanent position once they reach the end of their contracts.