We welcome today’s Birth Trauma Inquiry report, Listen to Mums: Ending the Postcode Lottery on Perinatal Care, and our thoughts are with the families and maternity professionals that shared their experiences with the panel.
The report identifies common themes such as:
- Women feeling like they were not listened to
- A lack of informed consent both antenatally and during labour
- Poor communication
- Issues related to pain relief, breastfeeding and postnatal care
- The compounded trauma experienced by those that submitted a complaint to their Trust.
The report also identifies disparities in outcomes and experiences of those from ethnic minority groups.
Many of these themes and findings, sadly, are not new. Baby Lifeline has been campaigning for better and safer maternity care for decades, and numerous reports and inquiries have supported the need for increased training and funding for maternity services.
Training
We particularly welcome the report recommendations relating to the need for increased training for maternity staff in trauma-informed care, and training related to the OASI (obstetric and sphincter injury) care bundle.
Of all topics surveyed in our Mind the Gap: An Investigation into Maternity Training for Frontline Professionals Across the UK (2020-2021), training in Informed Consent and Perineal Trauma were the two topics provided least frequently to staff working in maternity services. While most training topics took place on an annual basis during the period we surveyed (2020-2021), training in Perineal Trauma was the only topic that was not likely to be offered yearly to relevant staff.
In the organisations we heard from, training in Informed Consent was mandatory for less than one quarter of maternity staff.
We also found that, though 29% of deliveries in the period we surveyed were elective or emergency caesarean sections [1], the percentage of organisations offering training relating to the care of women following operative interventions had almost halved since 2017/18.
We are pleased that a spotlight has been shone on Birth Trauma, and we look forward to hearing the government’s response to this report.
[1] Maternity Services Monthly Statistics – NHS England Digital