Midwives
(asked on 28th February 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many midwives there were on (1) the Nursing and Midwifery register, and (2) practising in the NHS, in each of the past five years.
The information requested about the number of midwives registered to practise in the United Kingdom is not collected by the Department.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom and is responsible for nurse and midwifery registration. Information provided by the NMC on the number of midwives registered to practise in each of the past five years is provided in the following table. According to the NMC’s figures the number of midwives registered to practise in the UK increased by 2,445, between the end of September 2013 and the end of September 2017.
Year | Number of midwives registered to practise |
End September 2013 | 41,050 |
End September 2014 | 41,639 |
End September 2015 | 42,232 |
End September 2016 | 42,799 |
End September 2017 | 43,495 |
Source: Nursing and Midwifery Council
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) midwives in each of the past five years in England.
National Health Service HCHS: Practising Midwives, as at 31 October each specified year (FTE), 2013-17
Year | Total Midwives (FTE) |
October 2013 | 20,914 |
October 2014 | 21,268 |
October 2015 | 21,450 |
October 2016 | 21,621 |
October 2017 | 21,890 |
Source: NHS Digital, Provisional NHS HCHS monthly workforce statistics
The total number of midwives employed in the NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England increased by 976, from 20,914 in October 2013, to 21,890 in October 2017.