A North East NHS trust has come under fire for posting a job advert for midwives committed to "normal birth" – just a week after a damning report into baby and mother deaths at hospitals in the Midlands.
The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust has taken down an advert in which it said it was "seeking a highly motivated, experienced dynamic midwife to join our team who is committed to the philosophy of normal birth". It had said the new staff member would work as part of midwifery unit teams that "are staffed by passionate, normality-focused midwives".
With the advert now offline, a senior executive at the trust has reassured patients that it was currently "reviewing the language" in its adverts and said the "safety of mothers, babies and their families remains at the heart of everything we do". The trust, which runs hospitals in Northumberland and North Tyneside, has recently been voted one of the best in the country by patients for its maternity care.
