Midwife project boost to graduates - graduate jobs

Graduates from across Wales are being targeted to help boost ethnic diversity among midwives.

Prof Sheila Hunt said that more midwives from diverse communities are required to "mirror the local population".

Figures reveal that just 0.4% of the 1,560 midwives in Wales are mixed race, black or black British, with 0.2% Asian or Asian British.

And 72.2% of midwives across Wales are white, according to Welsh Government statistics.

Prof Hunt suggests this could be the result of misinformation about "issues such as the wearing of veils".

The Professor, who is head of Cardiff University's school of midwifery, is launching a new campaign next month to "engage closely with a variety of community groups".

The Nursing Careers for All project also aims to recruit from deprived areas and improve access to higher education.

"Students from diverse communities are currently in the minority," she said.

"This is often because they have not made the right choices at GCSE level or they think midwifery is not open to them."

However Prof Hunt added that the project wasn't just targeting members of ethnic minorities.

Copyright Press Association 2011