Sir – May I be among the first to congratulate Mrs and Mr Ekeland on the birth of their son Fredrik (Report, January 6). However, could I please point out to you that it was midwives who looked after Mrs Ekeland not nurses.

The training of midwives is quite different from the training of nurses and although some nurses then go on to study midwifery, a lot of midwives nowadays are direct entrants to the profession. A lot of people don’t appreciate the difference in our caring professions — midwives generally look after fit women and babies, although of course there are times when the women are sick and need extra care, which again is given by trained midwives. Nurses are skilled in their profession but would not be qualified to look after antenatal, postnatal and labouring women. I hope this clears the matter up for a lot of people.

Pat Whitehouse (PJ) SRN RM, Headington