After reporting the stories of 3 women who had suffered a traumatic birth, Sky News received messages from over 180 women who had suffered similar experiences. They analysed the experiences of these women and have published their findings. Six of those women were also interviewed on Sky breakfast news this week. ‘I had to give birth to twins I knew would die’: Calls for change to UK’s failing maternity system
The stories are harrowing.
But, we have heard these harrowing stories before. As Donna Ockendon says, despite the various inquiries spanning many years, there has been very little progress in improving the standards of maternity care. The issues identified in her report into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford published back in 2022 still persist.
The Sky News analysis shows that the most common complaint continues to be that women do not feel that they are listened to, with 91% reporting that they felt ignored.
Reports of maternity staff who were dismissive, unhelpful and, in certain circumstances, just plain cruel were also commonly reported, with 82% of mothers reporting bad behavior by staff and 33% reporting a lack of staff or equipment.
The Sky News analysis highlights that 71% of women suffered mental trauma, with 69% of mothers and 49 % of babies reported to have been harmed at birth.
This is a relatively small survey but it echoes the findings of larger investigations. It is clear that despite the various reports into maternity services and protestations that there will be improvements in maternity care, there has been very little change on the ground.
This assertion is further supported by the fact that every year NHSR reports that it is facing an ever-increasing bill for maternity negligence claims. Whenever details of the costs of maternity claims are published, there is condemnation of the number of women making claims against the NHS, the ‘astounding’ level of damages being paid out and of the lawyers getting rich on the back of these claims.
But as anyone who has experienced a traumatic birth will attest, no level of compensation will ever be sufficient to repair the damage that has been done. What families desire is answers and for someone to be held to account.
Who would choose to pursue litigation and to put themselves through years of stress? To be re-traumatised by having to re-live the traumatic events again and again? To be told that if they had fought more, challenged more or had not trusted the medical professionals around them, things would have been different. It is certainly not an easy option or one which is undertaken lightly.
However, it is often the only way that Claimants can get answers and can hold someone to account for what has happened to them. Despite the duty of candor, there continues to be a lack of openness when things go wrong in maternity services and this often persists into litigation with robust denials of liability in cases where admissions are subsequently made.
2026 has the potential to be a defining moment in maternity care with the imminent publication of Baroness Amos’ report following the national investigation into maternity and neonatal care in England. I hope that this report delivers lasting change, but given the reports which have gone before in the absence of a complete shift in focus in maternity care, I remain skeptical.
Almost all of the people who wrote to Sky News described feeling ignored at some point of their childbirth experience