Commenting on a campaign to reduce midwives’ working hours, Gill Walton, Chief Executive of the RCM, said: “Midwives and maternity support workers are facing extreme pressures and as this campaign highlights, they are exhausted, overstretched and working in unsustainable conditions.  

“The evidence is stark. The Royal College of Midwives’ surveys have shown that 45% of midwives report burnout often or always, and only 16% feel there are enough staff to do their job properly. Midwives work an estimated 100,000 unpaid hours every week just to keep services functioning, with 87% saying their units are not safely staffed.  

“The fundamental issue is that you cannot deliver safe maternity care with exhausted and overstretched staff. Well-rested midwives who have manageable workloads provide better, safer care.   

“The RCM believes urgent action is essential to tackle chronic understaffing, inadequate investment, and system-wide pressures that make current working patterns unsustainable. Our workplace representatives are supporting our members to raise these issues with individual NHS trusts and boards, while the RCM makes the case at a national level for systemic change, to the Baroness Amos investigation and the new Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce.”