From BBC Health today, but BBC Scotland focusing on Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of three babies in North Lanarkshire and avoiding its use as context:
A former midwife has told the BBC she quit because she could not live with herself if she provided poor care.
Hannah Williams says staff shortages meant she kept patients safe, but sometimes only “by the skin of her teeth”.
We did a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to 106 trusts with maternity units.
We asked how many full-time midwife posts they were budgeted to have in the summer of 2023 – and how many of those jobs were vacant.
On average, 11% of midwife jobs were empty – which translates to 25 unfilled posts per trust.
Several trusts had shortages of more than 20%, with the highest at 35%.
Similar FOI requests to Wales and Northern Ireland showed that staffing there is less of an issue than in England, with averages of 6% and 9% of empty midwife posts respectively.
Scotland’s figures suggest a smaller gap of 4%, but it records workforce data differently to the other nations.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67732916
Scotland records workforce data differently? Judging by the reports of various malpractice in NHS England’s recording of waiting times, ‘more accurately?
In 2023, the total number of midwives in Scotland had grown from 3 529 to 3612.
Finally, a bit dated I know but:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 