Hospitals should use volunteers to relieve the pressure on busy maternity units so that overworked midwives can spend more time with women in labour, a new report urges the NHS.
Many more women could be cared for by midwives if they were freed from tasks such as filling in forms, taking blood pressure and giving breastfeeding advice, according to the influential King's Fund health policy thinktank.
It is calling on hospitals to use their existing maternity staff in different ways rather than relying on the government to hire more midwives. Midwives' leaders have accused ministers of reneging on promises to hire thousands more to cope with the rising birthrate.
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