Midwives struggle to find work as Scots posts dry up

Published on Sunday 22 November 2009 22:12

NEW midwives and staff wanting to return to work are struggling to find jobs in Scotland, it was claimed yesterday.

A one-year guarantee of a job in the NHS currently operates for newly qualified nurses and midwives in Scotland.

But some cannot find a post, leading them to consider moving to England to find work.

The Scottish Labour Party said some new midwives were already travelling long distances to keep up their skills while they looked for jobs.

The Royal College of Midwives also expressed concern that posts for midwives could be cut and replaced with less skilled staff as health boards face tighter budgets in future.

The Scottish Government said it was working with health boards to find solutions in areas where new midwives were struggling to find jobs.

The concerns come after a report warned that overstretched maternity wards and neonatal units could be contributing to stillbirths and baby deaths in Scotland.

Two Labour MSPs have written to health secretary Nicola Sturgeon recently to express worries about the problems faced by midwives in their area.

Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, said he had been contacted by a student midwife who had been to every health board in Scotland only to be told there were no jobs.

In another case, Bill Butler, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, said a former midwife had received a letter urging her to consider applying to be readmitted to the nursing and midwifery register and return to work.

To do this, she would have to do a Return to Practice programme, costing around 500 and the equivalent of 300 hours of unpaid clinical practice.

But his constituent had not been able to find any NHS post which would be linked to funding for the programme.

Labour's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "We are busy training midwives and encouraging existing midwives to return in the knowledge there are no jobs there for them."

The Royal College of Midwives in Scotland said there had been ongoing problems with midwives not being able to get posts after training.

Gillian Smith, the RCM's director in Scotland, also said she had concerns about whether there would be a future cut in posts in Scotland, potentially replacing midwives with lesser trained – and cheaper – maternity staff.

A number of health boards contacted by The Scotsman revealed they had no current vacancies for newly qualified midwives, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire and Forth Valley.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said:

"We are aware that some health boards have lower vacancy rates for newly qualified nurses and midwives than others, and we are working with NHS boards to find quick solutions."