With Britain witnessing an increase in birthrate, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has recently warned that the lives of mothers and babies is being put at risk in some parts of country due to a `dangerous shortage' of midwives!

While the RCM has pointed out that the shortage of midwives has been reported from all across England, it also added that the situation in certain areas is apparently worse than that in the others.

Revealing that the birthrate in England has risen nearly 22 percent in the last twenty years, the RCM has expressed serious concerns that midwife numbers have failed to keep pace with the climbing birthrate; and has urged Prime Minister David Cameron to honour a pre-election pledge pertaining to recruiting of more midwives.

Since a report by the RCM has brought forth the fact that nearly 4,700 more midwives need to be hired across England, so as to keep up with added pressures like the increasing numbers of obese and older pregnant women, RCM general secretary Cathy Warwick said that the figures are a clear indication that there are "real and serious shortages in our maternity services."

Warwick further added: "It is also not just about numbers. Births are also becoming increasingly complex, needing more of midwives' time. The combination of this and the rising birthrate is a dangerous cocktail threatening the safety and quality of maternity care"!