The report from the All-Parliamentary Group on Birth trauma revealed that the UK’s maternity and postnatal care needs a total overhaul after finding shocking poor quality in maternity services.
The Inquiry highlights how “mistakes and failures” by maternity staff lead to stillbirths, premature births, babies being born with cerebral palsy because they were starved of oxygen at birth, and “life-changing injuries to women as the result of severe tearing”.
More than 1,300 women – some said they were left in blood-soaked sheets while others said their children had suffered life-changing injuries due to medical negligence.
Also, women complained they were not listened to when they felt something was wrong, were mocked or shouted at and denied basic needs such as pain relief.
Reacting to the issues raised, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said she was determined to improve the quality and consistency of care for women.
She advocated for a maternity system “where poor care is the exception rather than the rule”.
Parents gave the inquiry accounts of stillbirth, premature babies and babies with cerebral palsy caused by oxygen deprivation in many cases trauma caused by mistakes and failures, often covered up, before and during labour.
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