It’s time for collective outrage and an end to birth trauma

Every parent has a fundamental right to a safe and supported birth. But it is estimated that in the UK, one in three women will experience trauma during birth.??

Friends and colleagues share my outrage that this is happening in our national health service, in the UK, where we have both the knowledge and the means to stop this trauma from happening. The women, parents, and families behind these statistics deserve our immense compassion and empathy. ?

We know parents help build the foundations of the future. We know that positive birth and postnatal experiences?are directly linked to the health and wellbeing of their babies. But still, the system?is dangerously underfunded and understaffed.??

In late 2023 the Care Quality Commission deemed almost half of all maternity units (49%) as inadequate or in need of improvement, citing poor leadership, communication, and a lack of safety. Only 3% were rated outstanding. If half our schools were rated unsafe and deemed to be putting our young people at risk, it would rightly spark national outrage.?

Landmark reports from MBRRACE-UK show Black and Asian women are disproportionately affected. They are more likely to die in childbirth than white women. Their babies are more likely to die too. The same is true for women living in areas of deprivation and those under-served by our society. ?

With?a new government in power, it’s time to make our collective outrage known. We must unite to call for an urgent overhaul of maternity and neonatal systems that repeatedly fail new parents at their most vulnerable.??

Key to creating this system-wide change is a universal commitment to the idea that there is no such thing as a normal birth. There’s no such thing as the right way to give birth, or a best way. Vaginal birth = birth. Caesarean birth = birth. Birth at home, in hospital, with pain medication or without = birth.?

Women don’t need ideology or judgement. They need access to in-depth, evidence-based information. They need individualised and continuous care. They need trauma-informed, culturally inclusive care. They need empathy and compassion. They need?autonomy and time to make informed decisions that are right for them. Most of all, women need to be listened to. ?

Much of our work at NCT is preparing parents to enter a broken NHS maternity system in which they have an unacceptably high likelihood of negative or traumatic experiences, coupled with little or no postnatal support.?

?As the UK grapples with this crisis, NCT’s mission to support everyone who becomes a parent through their unique journey of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood (regardless of their circumstances or their birth and feeding decisions) is more important than ever. We know we must build on our 70-year history of advocating for pregnant women and new parents, listening to them, campaigning for their maternity rights, and sharing the most current, evidenced-based information available.????

Over the last four years, we have been working to transform and modernise our charity to respond to these?challenges.?Our new For Every Parent strategy aims to reach more parents than ever before and to ensure they are equipped with the most accurate, and impartial education, content, and services we can offer. We believe that high quality antenatal education, working hand in hand with excellent maternity and neonatal care, can deliver better outcomes for everyone.?

We’re clear on what is needed now. Strong, compassionate leadership and dedicated investment is needed across maternity and neonatal care services. Maternity units and community teams must be fully staffed and trained to deliver safe care, so we need more focus on recruitment and retention. Most importantly, women and people giving birth must be listened to treated kindly and given time and information so they can make decisions that are right for them and their babies.??

Some of the changes we need will take time, but on others the Government can act today, such as setting an explicit target to close the Black and Asian maternal and neonatal mortality gap, and providing the training and support needed to provide trauma-informed, culturally inclusive care within the NHS.?

Of course, there is still much more to do to fight for the changes parents need. But change is possible. As we move forward, we need compassion and outrage in equal measure to ensure that topping the political agenda is a plan to create a system where trauma is an anomaly, not the norm.?