Rising number of young midwives quitting NHS due to burnout

More young midwives are leaving the NHS before 35 as burnout adds pressure to stretched maternity services, new research has revealed.

The trend has raised concerns about the quality and safety of care for mothers and babies in understaffed maternity units.

During 2025-26, 1,669 midwives aged 34 or under left the health service in England, representing 57 per cent of the 2,949 midwives of all ages who resigned.

The pressures of maternity care, including increasingly complex childbirth and the risks involved, are thought to be among the factors behind the trend.

Hannah Leonard, deputy chief midwife at the Royal College of Midwives, said the exodus of midwives under 35 was “deeply worrying” and showed that too many were ending up “burnt-out within a few years of qualifying because every shift means too few colleagues, missed breaks and unpaid hours”.

She added: “Losing these midwives, and students, even before they qualify, is a terrible waste of talent.”

The figures, revealed in parliamentary questions tabled by the Liberal Democrats, show that 205 of last year’s younger leavers were under 25, while 655 were aged 25 to 29 and 809 were aged 30 to 34.

The number of midwives under 35 leaving the NHS has risen sharply in recent years. The 2025-26 figure was 59 per cent higher than the 1,051 who left in 2014-15, according to NHS figures.

Burnout means long-term physical and emotional exhaustion, often linked to sustained pressure at work.

Separate figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats suggest almost one in four midwifery students are leaving before completing their three-year degree.

In 2021, 3,565 students started a midwifery degree, but 2,725 graduated in 2024, meaning 840, or 24 per cent, did not complete the course.

Midwifery students spend much of their second and third years learning on the job in maternity units.

The loss of staff and students underlines what the Royal College of Midwives has described as a “staffing emergency” in maternity care across the UK.

A recent survey by the Royal College of Midwives found that three-quarters of midwives had considered leaving the profession over the last year, mainly because of concerns over staffing levels and patient safety.

Both recent large-scale reviews of maternity care in England, led by Donna Ockenden and Valerie Amos, identified staffing shortages as a key problem affecting patient safety.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: “These statistics reveal an alarming crisis in maternity, with far too many midwives burning out early in their career and in their training. Patients are paying the price, and mothers are left with no alternative but to give birth on understaffed and unsafe wards.

“Rather than throw money at yet more new recruits who quit under intolerable pressure, the government needs a new approach. Through guaranteeing protected, year-round training and professional development we can help midwives cope with rising complexity and risk.”

About 10 per cent of all midwives leave the NHS each year.

However, the figures show higher leaving rates among younger midwives, with one in seven, or 14.6 per cent, of those aged 25 to 29 and one in six, or 16.6 per cent, of those aged 30 to 34 leaving during 2025-26.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Under this government we have a record number of midwives in the workforce and we value the vital service they provide in maternity and neonatal units across the country.

“To make the NHS the best employer it can be, we have introduced new NHS staff standards to improve health and wellbeing support, promote flexible working, as well as crucial measures to tackle violence, sexual harassment or abuse and racism.

“Alongside consecutive above-inflation pay rises, we’ve bolstered the midwifery workforce through our graduate guarantee and recently opened up 1,000 more midwifery roles backed by £10m to help prevent student midwives leaving the profession.”

Department of Health and Social Care figures show a record 25,500 full-time-equivalent midwives are working in the NHS, 2,000 more than when the Labour government took office in July 2024.

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