Maternity services are failing mothers and babies, and it’s not just down to austerity | Letters

Medical professionals and women who had bad experiences themselves respond to the findings of the birth trauma report

The maternity trauma report is deja vu all over again (Women having ‘harrowing’ births as hospitals hide failures, says MPs’ report, 13 May). I cannot read about it because it makes me want to scream.

I was around for the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust report a couple of years ago. All those dead babies, all those mothers and parents talking about not being listened to or respected. All that handwringing from service providers, all those promises from politicians. The recommendations were set up to prevent the experiences we heard about this week (‘I was left lying on the ground in pain’: shocking stories from UK birth trauma inquiry, 13 May). For instance, continuity of midwifery care through the maternal pathway prevents so much of the stuff we read about now.

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‘I was left lying on the ground in pain’: shocking stories from UK birth trauma inquiry

The most harrowing experiences of women in labour come under eight common themes in the MPs’ report

• Women suffering ‘harrowing’ births as hospitals hide failures, says MPs’ report

A parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma in the UK received more than 1,300 written submissions. The stories shared were harrowing. In many cases, the trauma experienced by women was caused by blunders before, during and after labour. Failures were often covered up by hospitals seeking to frustrate efforts by families to find answers, according to a review of the evidence by the Guardian.

There were also many stories about a lack of compassion. Women were often ignored when they felt something was wrong, and were mocked, shouted at or denied basic needs such as pain relief.

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Women suffering ‘harrowing’ births as hospitals hide failures, says MPs’ report

UK birth trauma inquiry finds women mocked, ignored, fobbed off with paracetamol and left permanently damaged

Women in labour have been mocked, ignored, fobbed off with paracetamol and left with permanent damage by midwives and doctors, while hospitals covered up their failures, a damning report by MPs has found.

Mothers have been left suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), unable to bond with their baby and too incapacitated to go back to work because of horrendous experiences while having a child, the UK’s first inquiry into birth trauma found.

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Women in the UK: share your experience of maternity care, birth trauma, and postnatal care

We’re keen to hear from women in the UK who experienced birth trauma, and about their experience of care in pregnancy and after giving birth

A health minister has apologised to women affected by birth trauma after a parliamentary inquiry that heard “harrowing” testimonies from more than 1,300 women about giving birth found a “postcode lottery” for maternity care.

The birth trauma inquiry, led by the Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Labour MP Rosie Duffield, will call for an overhaul of the UK’s maternity and postnatal care.

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Minister apologises to women affected by birth trauma after UK inquiry

Inquiry hears ‘harrowing’ testimonies and finds postcode lottery for quality of maternity care

A health minister has apologised to women affected by birth trauma after a parliamentary inquiry that heard “harrowing” testimonies from more than 1,300 women about giving birth found a “postcode lottery” for maternity care.

The birth trauma inquiry, led by the Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Labour MP Rosie Duffield, will call for an overhaul of the UK’s maternity and postnatal care.

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Katie Britt proposes federal database to collect data on pregnant people

Republican US senator from Alabama best known for delivering widely ridiculed State of the Union speech in March

Katie Britt, the Republican US senator from Alabama best known for delivering a widely ridiculed State of the Union speech in March, marked the run-up to Mother’s Day on Sunday by introducing a bill to create a federal database to collect data on pregnant people.

The More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (Moms) act proposes to establish an online government database called “pregnancy.gov” listing resources related to pregnancy, including information about adoption agencies and pregnancy care providers, except for those that provide abortion-related services.

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More babies will die from whooping cough if UK vaccination rates don’t rise, says expert

Government adviser says under-vaccination among pregnant women in particular is putting infants at risk

More babies will die from whooping cough in the UK unless vaccination rates go up to slow the spread of the infection, a leading expert has warned, citing low take-up of jabs among pregnant women as a particular concern.

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, a consultant paediatrician and the chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the government, said under-vaccination was putting “the most vulnerable – those who are too young to have been vaccinated – at greatest risk”.

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