Factors that influence midwives' leaving intentions : a moral imperative to intervene

While the UK response to midwifery staff shortages has typically focused on the education of new graduates, it is not sustainable to keep adding midwives to a system that is losing them at a similar rate. While thousands of new students enter the UK education system each year, this does not result in similar increases in the midwifery workforce, simply due to the number of staff leaving each year (Royal College of Midwives (RCM), 2023). Furthermore, it is increasingly difficult to safely support the clinical development of student midwives due to staff shortages (APPG on Maternity and Baby Loss Joint, 2022). There is also an ongoing decline in the number of applications to midwifery programmes in the UK (RCM, 2023). Research suggests that this situation is not going to improve without significant intervention.