One in four women who have given birth in the UK have reported a negative experience, new research finds, with campaigners calling on the health secretary to take urgent action to fix a “broken” system.
Research carried out by campaign group Delivering Better also found that of those who reported a negative experience, more than half (54%) said they were less likely to want to have more children.
More than a third of all mothers said their birth experience left them with long-term mental health issues, a figure which jumps to seven out of 10 when respondents suffered a poor birthing experience.
In September, the Care Quality Commission warned failings within NHS England maternity services were “more widespread” than previously thought. Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded saying the findings were “cause for national shame”.
The warning came months after a maternity expert behind a key report told Sky News she was “angry” about inaction from the previous government.
After saying the “crisis in our maternity services… is one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night”, Mr Streeting in October launched a “national conversation”, asking staff and patients alike about their experience of the NHS to help structure a plan to fix it.
But Delivering Better, which is made up of campaigning mothers, said evidence is already available with an estimated 1,600 babies being born in the UK every day.
Jo Cruse, who founded Delivering Better following her own experience of a traumatic birth, said: “My birth gave me my beautiful daughter, but it took away my dignity.
“I developed suspected Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the long-term physical and mental health impacts still affect me three years later.
“Yet, according to the NHS my birth experience was recorded as successful.”
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Maternity failings are ‘widespread’
Speaking of what she described as a “maternity care crisis”, Ms Cruse said there were “thousands of mothers broken by births”.
She went on: “What human cost has to be paid before we start to see urgent change? Everyone deserves to give birth with dignity. Yet every day, women, their babies, their families and the healthcare professionals who endeavour to care for them are being failed by a broken system.”
Read more from Sky News:
Maternity pay rates in the UK – and how they compare globally
Good maternity care ‘exception rather than the rule’ – inquiry
Among Delivering Better’s recommendations are a greater continuity of care throughout pregnancy, as a vast majority of women (88%) want the opportunity to see the same midwife throughout their pregnancy – but provision varies significantly across trusts.
The group is also calling on GPs to check in more regularly with new mums, at three and six months post-partum to monitor their physical and mental health.
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