Student midwives and nurses are to stop receiving bursaries under a new cost cutting measure announced today by Chancellor George Osbourne in his spending review.
The termination of funding for student midwives is the latest blow to the midwifery profession. Just last month the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) warned of a ‘retirement time bomb’ in its annual State of Maternity Services Report 2015* with thousands of midwives close to retirement, compounded by an existing shortage of 2,600 midwives in England.
Commenting on todays announcemnet RCMs director for policy, employment relations and communications Jon Skewes says; “Today’s announcement is extremely worrying. There has been no consultation on the proposed changes and therefore no opportunity to highlight the huge and negative impact that this will have on midwifery student numbers.
Full story in The Royal College of Midwives 25 November 2015