A SHORTAGE of midwives at hospitals in Bromley and Woolwich is part of a “nursing crisis” in London, according to a health pressure group.
Figures published by the Department of Health last week reveal Bromley Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Woolwich, have one in five midwifery posts vacant.
Pressure group London Health Emergency (LHE) believes the figures, which show nine of the 22 London hospitals have a shortage of midwives, are “shocking”.
A Department of Health (DoH) spokesman admitted there is a nursing shortage but says the number of midwifery vacancies across London has gone down from 7.2 per cent to 6.9 per cent in the last year.
LHE's information director John Lister said: “Shortages of midwives are severe. At Bromley 24 per cent of posts are unfilled and at Woolwich 20 per cent.”
He says these figures are part of a wider crisis, where one in eight nursing posts in the capital are vacant.
A DoH spokesman said: “We need to recruit more midwives and are doing all we can to attract more people.”
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