In maternity wards across the country, the people who bring new lives into the world are increasingly stretched past the point of safety, and the regulator has now put that strain into plain numbers. The General Medical Council reports that obstetrics and gynaecology trainees carry more burnout, more sleep loss, and more hesitation about raising concerns than their peers in other specialties, a pattern it fears could reach the patients in their care. The source is a national training survey completed in 2026, and the causes named most often are thin staffing and a culture in which speaking up
Burnout Among Maternity Trainee Doctors Poses Risk to Patients, Regulator Warns
"There's just one of you to manage all those jobs."
Mark
What's the headline number here?
Mimi
Seventy percent of obstetrics and gynaecology trainees are at moderate to high risk of burnout, against 61% across all specialties. And one in three report regular sleep deprivation, versus one in five.
Mark
Why does the regulator frame it as a patient issue rather than a staff welfare one?
Mimi
Because of the speaking-up figure. Almost one in three feel hesitant approaching a senior colleague about a patient, compared with one in five overall. Charlie Massey says failures of culture and leadership are often behind it when things go wrong.
Luke
Worth being careful there. The survey measures feelings of hesitancy and burnout risk. It doesn't show that any specific patient was harmed. The warning is about risk.
Mimi
Fair. The GMC says it could have a critical impact, not that it has.
Mark
Adam Kay is quite blunt about it.
Mimi
He is, and his story is about stillbirth and no debrief. But he left in 2010, so his view that nothing has changed is his own judgment, not a finding of the survey.
Luke
And his claim of fewer staff than ever isn't backed by a figure in this piece. The government points the other way, with over 600 more midwives in a year. Midwives aren't trainee doctors, though, so those numbers don't really answer each other.
Mark
Is it all bleak?
Mimi
Not entirely. Dr Broughton loves the work, and trainees scored better than average on knowing how to report incidents and near misses.
Luke
Still unknown is what the taskforce will actually change, and when.
Le Pouls
- Seventy percent of obstetrics trainees now sit at moderate to high risk of burnout, well above the 61% seen across all specialties.
- Nearly one in three obstetrics trainees feels hesitant to approach a senior colleague about a patient, double the rate elsewhere in medicine.
- On the labour ward, one doctor can be pulled between a delivery, a frightened triage call, and a haemorrhaging miscarriage at the same moment.
- Staff groups and a former doctor warn that shortages and weak culture are driving people out, while the government points to its Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce and new speak-up guardians.
- Demands for sustained investment in safe staffing and protected training time remain unanswered, and the outcome is still uncertain.
In maternity wards across the country, the people who bring new lives into the world are increasingly stretched past the point of safety, and the regulator has now put that strain into plain numbers. The General Medical Council reports that obstetrics and gynaecology trainees carry more burnout, more sleep loss, and more hesitation about raising concerns than their peers in other specialties, a pattern it fears could reach the patients in their care. The source is a national training survey completed in 2026, and the causes named most often are thin staffing and a culture in which speaking up feels risky. The question now is whether the health system can turn long-standing warnings into protected time, adequate numbers, and a working environment where a junior doctor can say, without fear, that something is wrong.
On a maternity ward, one trainee doctor can be pulled in several directions at once. Dr Miriam Broughton, a second-year resident training to become an obstetrics and gynaecology consultant, describes it simply: two or three women may need babies delivered, triage may report a baby that has stopped moving, and A&E may be calling about a woman bleeding heavily after a miscarriage. "There's just one of you," she says.
That pressure lies behind a warning from the General Medical Council. Its national training survey, completed in 2026 by around 52,000 trainees, found that obstetrics and gynaecology trainees report more overwork and sleep deprivation than trainees in any other area of medicine or surgery, and are more wary of raising concerns with senior colleagues. Seventy percent are at moderate to high risk of burnout, against 61% overall. The regulator says this could have a critical impact on patients.
Charlie Massey, head of the GMC, says that when things go wrong in healthcare it is very often because of failures of culture and leadership. Adam Kay, who left medicine in 2010 and wrote about his years as a junior doctor, calls the report miserable reading. He remembers a stillborn birth after which he received no debrief, no offer of time off, only an expectation to carry on. In his view, little has changed, and staffing is thinner than ever.
Not every trainee sees only darkness. Broughton says she has had largely positive experiences and would not swap her job, calling the privilege of helping a baby arrive priceless. Yet she has heard of colleagues elsewhere who are nervous about calling their consultant. Dr Kat Barton of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says trainees know the care women receive is being affected, and urges government to invest in safe staffing, protect training time, and support wellbeing.
The government says staff must feel empowered to speak up and be acted upon, that every NHS trust now has a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, that over 600 more midwives were added in the past year, and that its Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce is responding. The staff groups are waiting to see whether that response will be sustained.
On a maternity ward, one trainee doctor can be pulled in several directions at once. Dr Miriam Broughton, 27, a second-year resident training to become an obstetrics and gynaecology consultant, describes it plainly: two or three women may need their babies delivered, someone in maternity triage may report that her baby has stopped moving, and A&E may be calling about a woman bleeding heavily in a miscarriage. "There's just one of you," she says, to manage all of it.
That pressure sits behind a warning from the General Medical Council, the doctors' regulator. It says fully qualified doctors who are still training in obstetrics and gynaecology report more overwork and sleep deprivation than trainees in any other area of medicine or surgery. They are also more wary of raising concerns with senior colleagues. The regulator says this could have a critical impact on patients.
The findings come from the GMC's national training survey, which in 2026 was completed by 68% of trainee doctors, including registrars, representing almost 52,000 people. Among those in obstetrics and gynaecology, almost one in three felt hesitant or apprehensive about approaching a senior colleague about a patient, compared with one in five across all specialties. Some 70% were at moderate to high risk of burnout, against 61% overall. One in three said they regularly suffered sleep deprivation, compared with one in five of trainees more widely.
Charlie Massey, head of the GMC, told the BBC that environments where staff are supported, listened to and able to raise concerns are essential. When things go wrong in healthcare, he said, it is very often because of failures of culture and leadership.
Adam Kay, who left medicine in 2010 after a traumatic birth incident and later wrote This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, said the report "makes for miserable reading". He recalled caring for a mother who delivered a stillborn baby and said he was not well supported afterwards: there was no debrief, no offer of time off or counselling, just an expectation to get on with it. He suggested nothing has changed in the 16 years since he left. In his view, labour ward doctors are burnt out, bullied and unable to report problems upstream. He pointed to staffing as a key problem, saying there are fewer staff on the wards than ever and that he can't remember the last time he met a doctor in the specialty without a plan B, whether part-time work, moving abroad or going into the pharmaceutical industry. He argued that staffing levels and culture can both be changed, and that doctors should be able to speak to their boss and take a break for a cup of tea or a visit to the toilet.
Broughton, for her part, says she has largely had positive experiences and would not swap her job. Being there to deliver a baby at the best moment of someone's life, and supporting people through the hardest, is in her words priceless. Even so, she says it matters to look at the wider culture, and she has heard of trainees at other hospitals feeling nervous about calling the consultant.
Dr Kat Barton, chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists National Trainee Committee, said many trainees feel overstretched and close to burnout, citing staff shortages and working beyond contracted hours. She said they know the care women receive is being affected, and called on government to invest in safe staffing at every level, protect training time and support wellbeing and careers.
The survey was not uniformly negative. Obstetrics and gynaecology trainees were more positive than average about some aspects of patient safety reporting, including how to report incidents and near misses. Recent high-profile maternity reviews have also raised concerns about workplace culture, leadership and staff ability to raise concerns.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said staff must feel empowered to speak up and be acted upon. All NHS trusts must now have a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian and internal routes for raising concerns. The department said there are record numbers of midwives, with over 600 added in the past year, and that the Secretary of State, in post since July, chairs a Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce responding to concerns from staff and families.
Citations marquantes
The doctors working on our labour wards are burnt out, bullied, don't feel like they can report problems upstream.— Adam Kay, author and former doctor
Many of us feel overstretched and close to burnout.— Dr Kat Barton, chair, RCOG National Trainee Committee
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