Lib Dem Health spokesperson Cllr Ron Aitken has written to the Haringey and Barnet Primary Care Trusts expressing his concern at figures published in the Evening Standard last month (23rd August) that show a serious shortage of midwives at the Whittington and Barnet & Chase Farm Hospitals.

Both hospitals, used frequently by mums-to-be from Haringey, appear on a list, collated by the Standard, highlighting 14 London hospitals that have a midwife vacancy rate higher than the London average.

The Whittington hospital currently has six midwife vacancies and a vacancy rate of 6%. Barnet & Chase Farm is third on the list, with a vacancy rate of 17% (37 vacancies).

Haringey’s Lib Dems protested strongly two years ago that Haringey PCT withdrew the home birth service due to budget constraints and claims by the PCT about patient safety. Recently several women’s organisations have raised concerns about the midwifery services at the other hospital used by residents – Haringey’s North Middlesex Hospital – and gave evidence to a recent Haringey Scrutiny Review of Maternity Services.

Cllr Aitken is concerned at the strain that the staff shortage is causing to the hospitals and the detrimental effect these shortages are having on existing staff:

“These are worrying figures and show the extent of staffing problems in many of our local NHS hospitals.”