“Whilst efforts have been made by the Trust to mitigate the situation, ultimately this is a failure in long-term workforce planning, with not enough training places being delivered, as well as ongoing issues around pay and working conditions.
“The Renfrew Maternity Review was published nearly two years ago now and the Department accepted the recommendations within it which, if implemented, would secure the future of maternity services here. But as it stands, we’re yet to see a Health Minister actually step up and take responsibility for turning this around.
“Short term solutions to long term issues do not work and this is further evidence of that. Women across NI are continually being failed by the Department of Health and they deserve better.”