33% of midwives near age to retire.

Byline: By Liz Hands

North health trusts plan to tackle shortage

Midwives in the North-East are warning of a looming recruitment crisis similar to that being experienced in other parts of the country.

So far, the region has not faced problems like those in places such as London, the rest of the South and the Midlands.

But North-East baby unit chiefs now say that could change as a third of midwives near retirement age.

The alarm was raised in a Maternity Report which went before the latest meeting of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust.

The trust looks after baby wards in Hexham, Ashington's Wansbeck and North Tyneside Hospitals.

Its report says: "Although at present there does not seem to be a midwife recruitment problem in the North-East, as there is elsewhere in the country, the age profile of the midwives within the trust indicate there will be a problem in five to 10 years' time.

"Currently, 33% of midwives are over 50 and 8% are over 55."

It says that not only will recruitment be a problem in the future, but that retention is an issue now ( mainly because student midwives do not want to live too far from Newcastle's bars and clubs.

"There are frequently a high proportion of newly qualified midwives employed at Wansbeck, but it is quite difficult to retain them," the report says.

"Feedback concerning this relates mainly to social factors and the location of Wansbeck ( it is difficult to access the nightlife in Newcastle from Wansbeck."

A Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Strategic Health Authority five-year plan earlier this year said an extra 900 nursing and midwifery staff were needed by 2007 to meet its targets, but it was expecting to recruit only 580. However, midwives at Northumbria and at the Royal College of Midwives said that although they did not want to downplay the problem, the North-East should still be better off than other parts of the country.

Head of midwifery at Northumbria Jackie Christer said: "Nationally, a third of midwives are over 50 and that includes our trust, but we are planning for the future. We have very strong links with Northumbria University and we have a policy for recruiting our own students into posts.

"Once we recruit our students, people don't tend to move around as much in the North-East as they do in the South."

Anne Jackson-Baker, director of the Royal College of Midwives Board for England, said plans to downgrade services in Hexham and North Tyneside could put midwives off working there.

The proposed shake-up of maternity services to be decided in the New Year would see Hexham's baby unit becoming permanently mid-wife led, North Tyneside following suit, and Wansbeck Hospital continuing to offer a full consultant-led service.

"Midwifery-led services tend to equally attract and repel," she said. "Some midwives would kill to work like that, but others don't want to work without extra support."

But she said: "If midwives can be recruited locally, they are normally retained locally because the average age of students is 32 and they tend to be people with their own families. Though, we must not be complacent. Trusts need to make sure they are planning for the future."