70% of obstetrics and gynaecology trainees were at moderate to high risk of burnout, the highest among specialties, prompting the GMC to warn of a potential “critical impact” on maternity patients.
Nearly one in three trainees in the field said they felt hesitant approaching a senior colleague about a patient, versus one in five across all specialties, while one in three regularly suffered sleep deprivation.
Almost 52,000 trainee doctors responded to the 2026 national training survey, with the GMC saying poor culture and weak leadership often sit behind failures when care goes wrong.
Trainee representatives and author Adam Kay linked the findings to chronic understaffing, long hours and a culture that discourages speaking up, saying those pressures are already affecting care for women.
The Department of Health said maternity safety is a priority, pointing to Freedom to Speak Up guardians, a taskforce on maternity and neonatal care, and more than 600 additional NHS midwives in the past year.