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Babies at risk’ as NHS faces losing nearly one in 10 midwives over mandatory jabs


The NHS could be forced to dismiss almost 2,000 midwives by the government’s mandatory vaccination policy, amid warnings from a former chief nurse of England that mothers and babies will be put at risk.

Well-placed senior sources have told HSJ around 1,700 midwives remain unvaccinated nationally, according to the latest data from trusts.

Based on official headcount data that would amount to between 6.5-8% of the workforce, depending on whether it counts full time equivalent or total staff numbers.

However, they are mostly in London, with the latest estimate in the city said to be about 680 (representing between 12 and 14% of the workforce), several well placed sources told HSJ, meaning its maternity services could be seriously destabilised.

A former chief nurse of England, Sarah Mullally, who now sits in the House of Lords as the Bishop of London, said she believed about 12.5% of London’s midwives were unvaccinated, and called on the government to delay the mandatory health worker vaccination policy.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, she warned mothers and babies would be put at risk, “in order to implement a policy that has been superseded by the evolution of the virus”.

She added: “I would strongly encourage everyone, including NHS staff and health care workers, to get fully vaccinated. However, having heard from midwives myself this week, I can see the anxiety that the requirement for mandatory vaccination is causing, as well as the potential risks to the heath service and its patients.

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Source: HSJ, 21 January 2022

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