More young midwives are leaving the NHS before 35 as burnout adds pressure to stretched maternity services, new research has revealed.

The trend has raised concerns about the quality and safety of care for mothers and babies in understaffed maternity units.

During 2025-26, 1,669 midwives aged 34 or under left the health service in England, representing 57 per cent of the 2,949 midwives of all ages who resigned.

The pressures of maternity care, including increasingly complex childbirth and the risks involved, are thought to be among the factors behind the trend.

Hannah Leonard, deputy chief midwife at the Royal College of Midwives, said the exodus of midwives under 35 was “deeply worrying” and showed that too many were ending up “burnt-out within a few years of qualifying because every shift means too few colleagues, missed breaks and unpaid hours”.

She added: “Losing these midwives, and students, even before they qualify, is a terrible waste of talent.”

The figures, revealed in parliamentary questions tabled by the Liberal Democrats, show that 205 of last year’s younger leavers were under 25, while 655 were aged 25 to 29 and 809 were aged 30 to 34.

The number of midwives under 35 leaving the NHS has risen sharply in recent years. The 2025-26 figure was 59 per cent higher than the 1,051 who left in 2014-15, according to NHS figures.

Burnout means long-term physical and emotional exhaustion, often linked to sustained pressure at work.

Separate figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats suggest almost one in four midwifery students are leaving before completing their three-year degree.

In 2021, 3,565 students started a midwifery degree, but 2,725 graduated in 2024, meaning 840, or 24 per cent, did not complete the course.

Midwifery students spend much of their second and third years learning on the job in maternity units.

The loss of staff and students underlines what the Royal College of Midwives has described as a “staffing emergency” in maternity care across the UK.

A recent survey by the Royal College of Midwives found that three-quarters of midwives had considered leaving the profession over the last year, mainly because of concerns over staffing levels and patient safety.

Both recent large-scale reviews of maternity care in England, led by Donna Ockenden and Valerie Amos, identified staffing shortages as a key problem affecting patient safety.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: “These statistics reveal an alarming crisis in maternity, with far too many midwives burning out early in their career and in their training. Patients are paying the price, and mothers are left with no alternative but to give birth on understaffed and unsafe wards.

“Rather than throw money at yet more new recruits who quit under intolerable pressure, the government needs a new approach. Through guaranteeing protected, year-round training and professional development we can help midwives cope with rising complexity and risk.”

About 10 per cent of all midwives leave the NHS each year.

However, the figures show higher leaving rates among younger midwives, with one in seven, or 14.6 per cent, of those aged 25 to 29 and one in six, or 16.6 per cent, of those aged 30 to 34 leaving during 2025-26.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Under this government we have a record number of midwives in the workforce and we value the vital service they provide in maternity and neonatal units across the country.

“To make the NHS the best employer it can be, we have introduced new NHS staff standards to improve health and wellbeing support, promote flexible working, as well as crucial measures to tackle violence, sexual harassment or abuse and racism.

“Alongside consecutive above-inflation pay rises, we’ve bolstered the midwifery workforce through our graduate guarantee and recently opened up 1,000 more midwifery roles backed by £10m to help prevent student midwives leaving the profession.”

Department of Health and Social Care figures show a record 25,500 full-time-equivalent midwives are working in the NHS, 2,000 more than when the Labour government took office in July 2024.

Nearly six in ten young women get health and wellness advice from influencers, new research shows.

Women aged 18 to 29 were more likely than young men to use online influencers for health information.

The topics included beauty, alternative medicine, mental health, weight loss and fitness.

The Pew Research study found that 57 per cent of women aged 18 to 29 said they get health and wellness information from online influencers, 10 percentage points higher than young men.

While Americans still mostly rely on healthcare providers, the research suggests social media influencers also play a major role in how young people find health advice.

Among women who get health and wellness information from influencers, 51 per cent said they often hear about beauty and appearance, compared with 18 per cent of men.

Young women were also around twice as likely as young men to say they see content about alternative medicine, meaning treatments or health practices used outside mainstream medical care.

A third or more of both young men and young women said they often hear about mental health and weight loss from influencers.

Around half or more of both groups said they often see fitness content.

When asked why they seek health and wellness information from influencers, around half of young women said they wanted to make a change to their health or lifestyle.

That compared with 37 per cent of young men.

The research also found that 23 per cent of young women said hearing from people who share their background or beliefs was one reason they used influencers, compared with 14 per cent of young men.

A further 19 per cent of young women said they learnt about things they did not want to ask their doctor, compared with 10 per cent of young men.

Congress is being urged to invest US$20bn over 10 years to close the women’s health gap.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Society for Women’s Health Research and the Women First Research Coalition have unveiled the National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap.

The framework calls for a coordinated national effort to improve women’s health research, care and outcomes.

It says women make up more than half of the US population, but their health needs across conditions and life stages have been understudied and underserved for decades.

Kathryn Schubert, president and chief executive of the Society for Women’s Health Research, said: “The women’s health gap has persisted for far too long.

“This strategy offers Congress a road map to improve health outcomes, drive innovation, and build a healthier future for women, families, and communities.”

The strategy notes that Congress required women to be included in National Institutes of Health-funded clinical research through the NIH Revitalization Act in 1993.

However, it says major gaps remain in women’s health research, clinical care and how evidence is put into practice.

The plan proposes US$7bn for research and innovation, including expanded federal investment in women’s health research across the NIH, VA, DoD and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

It would also establish a Women’s Health Research Interdisciplinary Fund at the NIH and create a national network of Women’s Health Centers of Excellence.

The centres would aim to accelerate the translation of research into clinical care and serve as training sites for researchers and clinicians.

A further US$1bn would be used for regulatory coordination and modernisation, including cross-agency collaboration and work to address sex differences in drug and treatment approvals.

Sex differences are biological differences between females and males that can affect disease risk, symptoms, treatment response and side-effects.

The funding would also support updated NIH tracking systems for women’s health research investment and publication standards on how sex as a biological variable is considered in research.

The strategy calls for US$4bn for data and evidence infrastructure, including a public-private partnership focused on women’s midlife health data.

It would also convene a public workshop to review existing women’s health research datasets and develop common data elements to fill gaps and make datasets more widely available.

Another US$7bn would go towards strengthening the clinical and research workforce.

This would include career pathways, loan repayment programmes, a women’s health clinical workforce loan repayment programme modelled on the National Health Service Corps and interdisciplinary training.

The workforce measures would include particular emphasis on rural and underserved areas.

The final US$1bn would support public awareness and education campaigns to improve health literacy, preventive care and participation in women’s health research.

Health literacy means a person’s ability to find, understand and use health information to make decisions about care.

The campaigns would use digital and traditional media developed in consultation with patient advocacy organisations and relevant medical societies.

Sandra E Brooks, chief executive of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said: “Closing the women’s health gap requires not only funding research, but also investment in the people who conduct that research and those who translate research findings and discoveries into better patient care.

“Strengthening the women’s health research and clinical workforce is critical to accelerating the innovation needed to improve health outcomes for women.”

The strategy says women have higher annual out-of-pocket healthcare costs than men and live 25 per cent of their lives in poorer health.

Supporters say this strengthens the economic and public health case for long-term congressional investment.

The framework has been endorsed by organisations across women’s health, ageing, heart disease, autoimmune disease, cancer, reproductive medicine and neurological conditions, including the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement at Cleveland Clinic, the National MS Society and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.