There is a great shortage of midwives in the county and many have also quit during the year.

At the birth in Umeå, the staffing problem has been felt the most.

- Since January, we have lost more than 17 midwives who worked on the floor at BB, childbirth and specialist maternity care, says Karin Järback, elected representative in the Healthcare Association and midwife at the birth in Umeå.

Due to the shortage of midwives, they have been forced to cover the staff with staff from the rest of the county but also with Finnish midwives from Vaasa.

Missed vacation - need to cover gaps in the rest of the county

The staffing situation has also affected the midwives' holidays and has meant that many have had to postpone their holiday weeks until September.

- It makes many people get tired, you have not received the recovery you need during the summer, after working a whole year, says Karin Järback.

Erika Häggblad, chairman of the Midwives' Care Association in Västerbotten, says that almost no midwife in Västerbotten has taken out her entire holiday and that many have had to go to Umeå to work instead.

- This will continue during the autumn, we have several colleagues who have to go to Umeå for Umeå to be able to stand on its own two feet, says Erika Häggblad.

Extinguishes fires with nurses - "midwives may work twice as hard"

Karin Järback says that they also had to have nurses in the BB department as a complement to midwives to manage the staffing.

She believes that the nurses can handle the basic care but that they do not have the training required for many other parts of the job, a view that Erika Häggblad shares:

- You have to understand that the midwife has a role that no one else can take, we are actually our own professional group, we have double credentials, and the management has not understood this, says Erika Häggblad.

She continues:

- Then it feels like we who work as midwives get to work twice.

There is no shortage of nurses, but they have their skills and we have ours.

Hear more about why so many midwives have left the county in the interview above.