Colchester and Ipswich hospitals say shortages due to midwives retiring

The trust which runs Ipswich and Colchester General hospitals said it was recruiting midwives from Italy and Portugal

Maternity services were downgraded due to the number of midwives retiring at the same time, an NHS trust said.

The units at Colchester General and Ipswich hospitals were rated "requires improvement" after inspectors found sustained periods of reduced staffing.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) said it was recruiting 30 midwives from Italy and Portugal.

It said a "nationwide shortage" was the "major reason for staffing issues".

The Care Quality Commission carried out an unannounced inspection after six whistleblowing reports between August 2020 and February 2021.

Colchester General is one of several hospitals run by the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

It found issues with staffing levels, the management of maternity triage systems and the process for induction of labour.

Inspectors found women and babies were potentially put at risk due to not enough midwives and healthcare assistants being on duty at both hospitals, inspectors found.

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The NHS trust said it was "taking steps to improve the leaderships and governance structures" to support maternity services, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"Maternity services across the country are facing similar staffing issues and we are not an outlier," it said in a report.

A spokeswoman for ESNEFT said the shortages of staff was not related to Brexit, but was because many midwives were reaching retirement age at the same time.

"We are all doing everything we can to address the staffing issue and are very much looking forward to welcoming 30 international midwives to East Suffolk and North Essex NHS foundation Trust in the coming weeks and months," the spokeswoman said.

The midwives would work at Colchester, Ipswich and also at Clacton Hospital.