Swine flu could cause midwife shortage hospital trusts warn

Sickness absence among midwives caused by the swine flu virus could limit choice in maternity care, hospital trusts have warned.

Pregnant women could be told not to plan for home births or Caesarean sections that are not medically required if there is a huge rise in the number of nurses absent because of the virus, The Times has reported.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is considering issuing these guidelines.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

More than 100,000 people in the UK are estimated to have caught swine flu in the past week.

Meanwhile the government has rejected criticisms it should have opened the swine flu helpline sooner.