Justin Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, responding to the increased reliance on agency midwives in the NHS, said:

“These figures show a shocking increase in reliance on agency midwives.

“They are symptomatic of a growing staffing crisis in our NHS which has been exacerbated by the Tory government cutting nurse training places in the last Parliament and now scrapping nurse bursaries in this one.

“The rocketing reliance on agency midwives is totally unsustainable and is a legacy of six years of Tory under investment. There has been a total failure to recognise that it is the NHS staff who keep the health service going and they need to be respected and motivated properly.”