Poor maternity care tolerated and women treated as ‘inconvenience’, birth trauma inquiry finds

A parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma is calling for a national plan to improve maternity care as it found good care is “the exception rather than the rule”.

The report, published on Monday, was led by Conservative MP Theo Clarke, who thought she was going to die when giving birth to her daughter in 2022, and Labour MP Rosie Duffield.

The report detailed harrowing stories including mothers being left to lie in their own blood and urine, or having their concerns about their baby’s health dismissed which in some cases resulted in death.

According to The Times, the report found “poor care is all frequently tolerated as normal, and women are treated as an inconvenience”.

Among the recommendations included in the report is the creation of a maternity commissioner reporting to the prime minister.

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Ms Clarke told The Times that the “horrific” testimony “has shone a light on how we must do so much better when it comes to maternity services”.

She also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the inquiry highlights geographic discrepancies in care: “I think what came through very strongly (in the inquiry) was that there does seem to be a postcode lottery for maternity care in this country, and that’s something that I don’t think is acceptable – that depending on where you live, you will literally be offered a different level of care in terms of how you’re given support during childbirth and afterwards.”

Describing her own experience, she said: “I remember pressing the emergency button after I’d come out of surgery and a lady came in and said she couldn’t help me, said it wasn’t her baby, wasn’t her problem and walked out and left me there.

“So we need to make sure there are safe levels of staffing.”

Research from the Birth Trauma Association charity shows that about 4-5 per cent of women experience PTSD after birth – about 25,000-30,000 a year in the UK.

It says many more women experience some trauma symptoms, such as intense anxiety or flashbacks, but not enough for a PTSD diagnosis.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the experiences of more than 1,300 women who have given evidence to the inquiry were “simply not good enough”.

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Health secretary Victoria Atkins said she was “determined to improve the quality and consistency of care for women throughout pregnancy, birth and the critical months that follow”.

In January, she shared her personal experience of the “darker corners” of the NHS after giving birth as a patient with type one diabetes.

“I want to reform our NHS and care system to make it faster, simpler and fairer for all of us and that includes women,” she said.

The women’s health minister apologised to women affected by birth trauma, following the findings of a parliamentary inquiry.

Asked whether there was an apology to be made, Maria Caulfield told Sky News: “Absolutely. I recognise as women’s health minister that maternity services have not been where we want them to be.”

She added that rates of neonatal deaths and stillbirths are coming down after reaching their highest point in two decades.

Ms Caulfield also told LBC: “If you actually look at the neonatal deaths and stillbirth deaths, they are falling by roughly between 20 and 30 per cent, so the measures we are putting in are working.

“We know, for example, that Covid had a significant impact on pregnant mums and on poorer outcomes for babies.

“Our figures are better than the Labour-run health service in Wales, for example, and they are not putting in any of these measures.”