More than 90 per cent of final year midwifery students are struggling to find a job, a new survey published today by the Royal College of Midwives reveals.
The survey also shows that 58 per cent of midwifery students were concerned about getting a job.
The survey comes as the midwifery profession is moving into a new era as an all-graduate profession.
The survey also reveals that 81 per cent said the move to degree-only training would have a negative financial impact on them.
Ten per cent of the students surveyed already had debts of £7,000 to £9,000.
The RCM said it supports the move to an all-graduate profession but is concerned at the financial impact this move will have on students, and how it may affect recruitment into the profession.
However, 31 per cent said that the move to an all-graduate profession would improve care to women.
Karlene Davis, general secretary of the RCM, which has 2,981 student members, said: ‘This survey confirms what we have been saying for some time – that morale amongst student midwives is declining because of their accumulated debts and uncertainty about job prospects.
‘However, the survey also shows that student midwives want to deliver high-quality care and apply their training, but too many are not getting this opportunity.
‘We are campaigning for a £10,000 non-means tested bursary for all student midwives.’
Davis added: ‘While we are delighted that Health Secretary Alan Johnson recently announced a package of measures to recruit 3,400 full-time midwives over the next three years, including former midwives, with a “golden hello” of £3,000, we have an ageing midwifery population.
‘Our student midwives also need to be welcomed with a “silver smile” from NHS trusts.
‘A one-year job guarantee for newly-qualified midwives would ensure that they are brought and welcomed into the profession and NHS trusts.’
The survey of 170 students in the UK, the second to be carried out on students for the RCM, looks at aspects of student midwives’ work, morale, hopes and aspirations, to see how attitudes are changing with the shift to an all-graduate profession in 2008.
The results show that morale among students is at an all-time low.
Alison Anderson, a final year student from Central Scotland, said: ‘Getting a job is a huge concern. The need for more midwives is apparent on nearly every shift.’
However, she added: ‘It seems extremely unlikely that I will be able to secure a permanent post on qualifying.’
Other students, particularly those switching careers to midwifery, spoke of the intense financial burden funding training can impose.
One mature student had to remortgage her house to pay for child-minding costs for her four children for the next two years, while she undertook her midwifery training.
