'There are no jobs at end of our university course'
TRAINEE midwives from Huddersfield University spoke out about NHS problems which could see them all unemployed.
Midwives on the university course donned T-shirts and started a petition yesterday to raise awareness of the situation which they say will see all of them on the dole.
Jenny Milner, who studied to be a nurse at Leeds before transferring to the 18-month fast track course in Huddersfield, said: "The Government is paying for us to do this qualification.
"There are people on the course who gave up nursing jobs to retrain as midwives.
"But there are no jobs. We will be unemployed when this course finishes.
"We have mortgages and families.
"What will we have to do? We joke that we will have studied for seven years to sit on a supermarket checkout."
Miss Milner, from Dalton, said the 10 students on the fast track course, including herself, and about 30 on the three-year course faced an uncertain future.
She added: "As far as we know only a couple of people from the last course - which finished in September - got jobs.
"I think one was in London and the other was abroad.
"It's not like there are too many midwives. If you go into the delivery suite they are rushed off their feet.
"When we finish training for a job that we all love we will be heartbroken to be unemployed.
"We will be on the scrapheap if nothing changes."
The students are collecting signatures on a petition which they then plan to send to Westminster.
They are also lobbying their own MPs in various parts of the country, urging them to try and push to retain midwifery jobs.
But there is a national cash crisis, with health trusts in many areas - including Huddersfield - fighting to overcome debts.
