Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of midwives at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.

Local National Health Service providers are responsible for ensuring safe staff levels, including midwifery levels, to meet the needs of its local population.

Since 2010 there are 1,275 more midwives working in the NHS.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has informed the Department that it has commenced a recruitment drive to secure more permanent midwives to manage currently unfilled shifts due to higher than usual staff absence and long-term sickness.