Your article on the two maternal deaths at Queen's hospital in Romford that should never have happened, and the abusive and neglectful behaviour by midwives, exposes what are now fundamental issues facing UK maternity services (Patients still at risk at hospital trust where women died in childbirth, 28 October).

You report that individual midwives treated women with disrespect – one midwife was heard to say: "Hurry up, or I'll cut you." And we read that, despite all its problems, Queen's is due to absorb yet more births in the near future: "Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has formally agreed to close maternity and A&E services at King George and relocate them mostly at Queen's."

I am a midwifery lecturer with 20 years' experience, and the circumstances described reflect the continuing neglect of pregnant women's core needs. The government has chosen not to recruit the 5,000 additional midwives the Royal College of Midwives has repeatedly stated are required. Across Britain, smaller, more homely maternity hospitals have been closed, despite vigorous protests from residents and midwives. Our maternity units are now the largest in Europe. The 97% of women who give birth in hospital have only a short hospital stay, even following major abdominal surgery, and postnatal care has been massively cut.

All the research indicates that continuity of midwifery care gives the best physical and psychological outcomes for women and babies, but it is virtually impossible for midwives to achieve this.

Student midwives are educated and mentored on an intensive three-year programme. They are dedicated, caring individuals who make many sacrifices as they learn how to help women have a safe, satisfying birth experience, as well as supporting them in early motherhood.

Because of the lack of recruitment, many newly qualified midwives struggle to find posts. Once in the fragmented and over-medicalised system, with its chronic staff shortages, it is sadly true that some become uncaring, and therefore dangerous; many, many more burn out and leave. As one midwife told me: "I'm leaving; not because I don't care, but because I care too much."

We hear that at Queen's, "seven abusive staff have been disciplined and some sacked". But blaming individuals for failing to care is no solution when the whole system is wrong. For the long-term health of mothers, we desperately need a different model for maternity care – one that is community based; gives midwifery continuity; and where birth takes place at, or close to home for most healthy women.

The current system, with its often traumatic consequences for mothers and babies, is unacceptable. Consumer groups such as the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services and the National Childbirth Trust have already put forward workable solutions, based on the copious evidence that now exists about which systems work best. Action is now essential, otherwise we will remain in a vicious circle of diminishing care standards and avoidable tragedies.