FAILURE to deliver a decent, inflation-proof NHS pay award will worsen the recruitment and retention crisis in maternity services, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) warned today.

Giving evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body, the union stressed that only a wage increase that makes up for a decade of austerity pay and the deepening cost-of-living crisis will help “stem the flow” of staff leaving. 

The independent body, which advises ministers, is currently considering the Tory government’s offer to raise NHS pay by just 3 per cent in 2022-23, less than half the current inflation rate given by the consumer prices index.

The latest NHS workforce figures for England show that in the 12 months to January there were 410 fewer midwives than in the same month last year, adding to an estimated shortage of more than 2,000 workers in the sector. 

In a recent RCM survey, over three-quarters — 77 per cent — of midwifery heads across England said that it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit staff, while 61 per cent reported routinely having to call in agency workers. 

Last week’s NHS staff survey found that about 83 per cent of midwives are working additional unpaid hours, up 4 per cent since 2020. 

Alice Sorby of the RCM warned of a “tipping point,” saying that the union’s members feel “utterly undervalued by the government. 

“Many midwives stayed in the NHS out of a sense of loyalty during the pandemic.

“We feared that it was only a temporary halt to the exodus of experienced staff and that fear is now being realised.

“Maternity services cannot and should not be run on the cheap. It’s not safe and it’s not sustainable.”