§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the regional health authorities in rank order according to the number of trained midwives per 100,000 women of child-bearing age.
§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley[holding answer 8 May 1990]: The requested information is shown in the table.
Health authorities will have regard to a number of different factors in setting staffing levels for their maternity services. The number of women of child-bearing age is not in itself particularly meaningful for this purpose, given that age distributions and fertility rates within that group will vary in different places.
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Midwives1 employed in the NHS at 30 September 1988 per 100,000 women of child-bearing age2 within each region Qualified midwives (WTE) per 100,000 women of child-bearing age Per 100,000 England 188.4 North Western 253.5 Yorkshire 207.6 Northern 202.0 West Midlands 199.2 North East Thames 198.5 Mersey 197.0 East Anglian 190.2 Wessex 186.1 Trent 180.5 North West Thames3 175.6 South West Thames 168.9 Oxford 167.7 South Western 150.4 South East Thames 143.1 Source: DoH (SM 13) Annual census of NHS non-medical manpower and OPCS population census.
1 Includes hospital and community midwifery staff.
2 Women of child-bearing age are those between the ages of 15 and 44 years.
3 Includes staff employed in SHAs.