AQW 6748/22-27

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 16/02/2024
Answered On Date: 01/03/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health, given the rising average age profile for mothers, what adaptation is being made to the number of midwives in training.

Answer:

The age profile of women using maternity services has steadily risen over the last decade. Pregnancy for women who are aged 35 or older is considered a risk factor for adverse maternal and or perinatal outcomes such as preterm labour, chromosomal abnormalities, and labour complications.

A well-established workforce analysis tool is used across the HSC to plan the optimum student numbers that are required to maintain and develop a midwifery workforce that can respond to the changing needs of women.

My Department currently spends approximately £4.4m per annum on pre-registration training for midwives at Queen’s University Belfast. An all-time high annual intake of 115 training places was achieved in 2022/23. I will continue to make the case for additional investment to develop our future workforce, in the context of what I expect to be a very challenging budget in 2024/25.