Nearly 5,000 more midwives will be needed by 2012 if the Government is to meet its target for maternity services, the Royal College of Midwives said yesterday.

The college has increased its target from 3,000 because of a rising birthrate, which has exceeded government estimates, and a reassessment of present shortages.

The call came on the same day that a baby was born in the back of an ambulance after her mother was unable to give birth at her nearest hospital because there were not enough midwives on duty.

In April the Government published its blueprint for maternity services, promising women a choice of where to have their babies. The RCM said at the time that the proposals could not be delivered without at least another 3,000 midwives. But it has now revised the figure upwards, arguing that many trends threaten to upset the Government’s plans.

There has been a 12.5 per cent increase in the birthrate since 2001, but midwife numbers have risen by only 4.5 per cent since 1997. The RCM said that fewer midwives were being trained, and even those who did qualify found it hard to get jobs because of the cuts made to bring the NHS back into financial balance.

Nearly half of all midwives are due to retire in the next decade, the RCM said, but demand for their services is greater because births are becoming more complex.

Louise Silverton, deputy general secretary of the RCM, said: “We have real concerns about the Government’s ability to deliver because there are simply not enough midwives.”

Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, which ran a £7.2 million deficit last year but is planning to break even this year, provoked a row by announcing plans to cut 600 jobs, a third of its workforce. It also plans to cut all deliveries at maternity wards in Malton, Whitby and Bridlington in favour of a unit in Scarborough.

A lack of midwives at Malton Hospital forced Sally West, 36, to take a 26-mile trip to Scarborough. Malton is only three miles from her home and she had expected to give birth to her daughter there. Instead Phoebe was delivered in an ambulance in the car park of Scarborough Hospital.

Clive Milson, Phoebe’s father, accused hospital bosses of “gambling with people’s lives” and urged them to keep the units open. “We were fortunate there were no complications.”

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