A ‘serious shortage of midwives’ could end up being a major problem according to the Royal College of Midwives

A third of the existing workforce is approaching retirement age.

Karen Murray, the Northern Ireland director for the RCM and its lead for the Isle of Man, said: ‘Maternity services on the Isle of Man need urgent strategic direction. There are serious holes in midwife numbers, in funding, and in leadership. All this is crucial for safe care.

‘There should be red lights flashing about maternity services in the Manx government, and these are warning lights they cannot, and must not ignore. The safety and wellbeing of women, babies and staff are being compromised. Urgent action is needed to address the issues facing the island’s maternity services. It is time to start that work without delay.’

While the RCM acknowledged the struggle in recruiting midwives, it pointed out that the island has no consultant midwives and lacks specialist midwives to support on issues such as mental health.

There are also currently no trained maternity support workers, a supporting role that frees up time for midwives to provide more focused care.

The chief executive of Manx Care, Teresa Cope, will be meeting with the RCM this week alongside members of the maternity team, the Department of Health and Social Care and the executive director of nursing and governance.

Addressing its strategy to increase midwife recruitment and pre-registration training, Manx Care said: ‘We currently have our first student midwife on placement from Salford University and we hope she will return home to the island and take up a position with us once she has graduated.

‘The team is also focusing on the delivery of more joined-up care to people who require their support, for example launching the rainbow care service for pregnant ladies who have previously lost their baby, providing them with extra support throughout subsequent pregnancies.’

Manx Care said that the meetings on September 6 and 7 would focus on developing a maternity strategy which adheres to the Ockenden report, which set a standard for maternity wards across the NHS, and that it was grateful for the support from the RCM at a time of significant challenges.

It said: ‘When Manx Care came into existence on 01 April 2021, it inherited a service with a number of long-standing vacancies and recruitment gaps, a position that has been incredibly difficult to address as a result of there being a significant shortage of midwives in the UK.’

The RCM has set out its case for an island maternity strategy which reflects the current issues facing the Manx population including health inequalities and the need to provide a ‘choice to women within a safe, sustainable model of care’.

Ms Murray addressed the fact that, despite a 2019 workforce review finding there was a need for more midwives, the number of midwives in the island has not increased.

She said: ‘Women on the island do not have the choices of care they should, and midwives are not being supported enough to do their jobs as well as they want to. Midwives are working incredibly hard to ensure women, babies, and their families get the safest and best possible care. However, there are not enough of them.’