MIDWIFE shortages are having a “stark and sobering” impact on women and highlight the historical failure to invest appropriately in maternity services, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) warned today.

It its latest report, the RCM found that if the number of NHS midwives in England had risen at the same pace as the overall health service workforce since the last general election, there would be no midwife shortage.

Instead there would be 3,100 more midwives in the NHS, rather than having a shortfall of 2,500 full-time staff, it found.