MATERNITY services could be under threat as Scotland faces a midwives retirement "time bomb", The Royal College of Midwives has warned.

The RCM’s annual State of Maternity Services Report said an increase in births was also fuelling the warning that the safety of materniny services could be compromised.

A new report from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) found between June 2011 and June this year the number of midwifery staff in their fifties and sixties rose by 304, but the number under the age of 50 fell by 209. This echoes a problem emerging in England according to the report.

THE RCM said: "Many of these older midwives are very experienced and mentor newer midwives.

"There is a pressing need to ensure that they are replaced in good time before retirement. If this is not done the RCM has real fears that there will not be enough time for new midwives to gain the experience and confidence they need, before many of their, more experienced colleagues leave the service.

"As a result of these findings the RCM argues that midwifery training numbers in Scotland must at the very least be maintained at the present levels but ideally should rise.

"The RCM are engaged in working with the Scottish Government and the health service looking at intake planning for student midwives. The underlying message must be ensure that there are enough midwives with enough time to gather experience before the retirement time-bomb hits."

At the same time Scotland is also seeing the rise of the older mum, with more women giving birth later in life.

The number of births to women in their early forties has now been above 2,000 in every year since 2008, but was as low as 1,133 as recently as 2000.

Last year’s figure of 2,075 births to women in this age group was 83 per cent higher than it was at the start of the century.

The 148 births in Scotland last year to women aged 45 or above is the highest for years, and represents a fivefold increase since 2000. The service must be equipped and resourced to meet the needs of these women and their families.

Scotland saw a rise in births last year, with 56,725 babies born. This sets the country apart from England and Wales, where births were again down. The number of births remains higher than it was a decade ago, with a low point of 51,270 reached in 2002.

Gillian Smith, Director for Scotland at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “Let’s be clear Scotland does not currently have a midwife shortage, and hasn’t in living memory. However if action is not taken now, there is a very real risk that we could have one.

"England has failed for years to eliminate its shortage, which reached as big as 6,000 midwives at its worst point and it has taken them what feels like a generation to get on top of the problem. Scotland needs to maintain its record – the envy of midwives in England – having a properly staffed midwifery service. Let’s keep it that way.

“We must ensure that the service is able to meet the needs of women such as the older mothers and of course the additional pressures on services from issues such as increasing levels of obesity and ill-health in pregnancy. These women will need more monitoring and support. This means planning to have the right numbers of staff to meet their needs and that means getting the right numbers of midwives in training, right now.

”If action is not taken immediately I believe there could be serious consequences for the quality and even the safety of Scottish maternity services.”