This week the Secretary of State for Health spoke about Maternity Services and the Government plans for a National review. Birthrights’ latest survey highlights a broken maternity system that prioritises its own safety and survival over women and birthing people, students and midwives.
Earlier this year, we released a public survey directed at student and practising midwives to find out what challenges they face during training and employment.
The results were chilling.
Midwives reported feeling undervalued and burned out, and many don’t feel listened to, properly trained, or supported.
No employment prospects
We asked student midwives how optimistic they were feeling about their job prospects after graduating.
One respondent said: “Completely terrified and disheartened to know that you’ve spent the past three years training to be a midwife only to be told there are no vacancies in the area”.
Another wrote: “There are no jobs at my trust or any of the trusts in my area. This has really made me feel dejected and unwanted after working so hard for nearly three years!”
Response after response echoed these fears.
While a lack of midwives is often cited as the reason for:
- the dismantling of services,
- safety concerns,
- burnout of those already in the system,
it’s incredibly frustrating to hear from so many student midwives who are about to qualify that they’re faced with no jobs or way into employment.
Students have often taken on significant debt in order to complete their training. Many now have no chance of paying it back through a midwifery career.
According to another survey by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), more than eight out of ten midwives due to qualify this year are ‘not confident’ they will find a job once graduating. The RCM says funding cuts and recruitment freezes have ‘tied the hands of midwifery managers’ who are desperate for staff but unable to hire.
No progression
And the situation is difficult, too, for those already in employment.
We heard from practising midwives feeling “underfunded and undervalued”. One survey respondent told us: “I don’t feel like there is a future in the NHS, the senior roles are so unappealing, who wants to be a Matron or Head of Midwifery when you will be abused on all sides and never have any work-life balance.”
“I watch my colleagues walk away from promotion as they are bullied from above and below,” said another.
Very concerningly, midwives also highlighted discrimination and nepotism as significant barriers to their career progression. Several shared deeply troubling experiences that point to systemic inequalities within the profession. One midwife stated, “Qualified 16 years ago, barriers in progression due to my ethnicity”.
Another reflected, “I feel opportunities are limited. People are pre-selected for positions, and unless your face fits and you conform, you’re worn down and forced out rather quickly”.
These testimonies reveal a culture where advancement is not always based on merit, and where midwives, particularly those from racially minoritised backgrounds, feel excluded, marginalised, and undervalued.
Lack of training
For new midwives coming up through the system, there’s also a lack of confidence associated with limited exposure to different birth settings. Multiple students who took part in the survey said they hadn’t been present at a home birth in their training so far and midwives even shared that they graduated without receiving any training on home birth.
One student said: “Have not yet seen a home birth in one and a half years of training,” while another commented: “I don’t feel confident in high-risk settings. I am then asked to cover staff shortages/ breaks in these areas without sufficient exposure. This makes it unsafe for women and for myself”.
What is the result?
As a direct result of these ongoing challenges, many midwives are feeling disheartened and heartbroken, with some expressing that they see no alternative but to leave the profession they once entered with such passion and commitment.
One midwife shared: “I have moved into children’s safeguarding as midwifery is so dire”.
The skills, knowledge, and experience of highly trained midwives are being lost, as one midwife shared, “I am six years qualified and looking for work outside of the maternity ward”.
Too often, what we see is a system that prioritises its own safety over women and birthing people and midwives. Midwives responding to our survey echoed this concern, describing how they feel confined within a system that serves itself rather than those it is meant to care for. One midwife captured this sentiment powerfully: “I don’t feel I was prepared well enough to advocate for the women and birthing people I support. I mostly felt I was indoctrinated into a system that puts its own needs above the women we support”.
A truly safe environment is one where individuals feel respected, where care centres their voices, and where their rights are upheld. This is essential to reducing trauma, improving outcomes, and delivering meaningful, person-centred care.
True safety can only be achieved when women and birthing people are heard, their decisions respected, and their individual experiences and circumstances recognised and when the midwives who strive to uphold these principles are supported and empowered, not discouraged, silenced or marginalised.
The government needs to urgently look at closures and suspensions of core maternity services and the exodus of midwives. This should be a priority focus for the newly announced National Investigation into NHS Maternity and Neonatal Services.
We need change now to ensure midwives are valued, properly trained, and equipped to support women and birthing people safely across all birth choices.
Want to know more?
We have an upcoming online training session on July 2nd to explore how human rights law applies to your daily practice as a healthcare professional working in maternity care, and how it can support you to deliver individualised, rights-respecting care.
Birthrights
June 2025