Maternity care is a 'footnote' in Government's women's health strategy, midwives say
Wes Streeting previously announced a public inquiry into the Leeds maternity scandal.
The Royal College of Midwives has accused the Government of making maternity services “a footnote” in its women’s health strategy, saying it was “deeply disappointed” with the announcement.
Yesterday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said women had been made to feel like “second-class citizens whose voices don’t matter” as he launched sweeping reforms of women’s healthcare.
Mr Streeting said the NHS had a “problem with basic, everyday sexism” and an “appalling culture of medical misogyny” and said the new strategy would stop women from being “ignored, gaslit, humiliated and disrespected”.
He pledged that waiting lists for women using gynaecology services will fall faster than the overall NHS waiting list, and that healthy female life expectancy will increase in the poorest parts of the country from 51 years to 61 years.
The new strategy document sets out 117 action points and makes several pledges on how care will improve, including reforms to tackle “outdated and misogynistic practices” around pain relief for invasive procedures, and women will be given powers to contribute to the withholding of payments for services if they have a poor experience.
The report also vows to improve safety in maternity services after a number of failings have been highlighted in hospitals across the country, including in Leeds.
Mr Streeting has launched an independent review of maternity care by Baroness Amos last June, as well as a specific public inquiry into the scandal in Leeds, which will be chaired by senior nurse Donna Ockenden.
The new strategy document says it is “important that this work continues without restriction” but does not go too deeply into the issue other than pledging to “improve safety in maternity services”.
Reacting, RCM chief executive Gill Walton said: “We are deeply disappointed that maternity services do not feature as a headline priority in today’s renewed Women’s Health Strategy.
“This is a significant missed opportunity and one that is very difficult to understand.”
“Pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period are not a footnote in women's health - they are one of the most significant and consequential phases of a woman's life.
“A strategy that treats maternity as an afterthought is not truly a women's health strategy at all. It is exactly the kind of thinking that has allowed maternity services to reach the point they are at today.
“We urge the Health Secretary to ensure that when the Amos and Ockenden recommendations are published, they are placed at the very heart of this strategy with the seriousness and urgency that women, families and midwives deserve."
A BBC investigation into the scandal in Leeds revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented, while legal firm Irwin Mitchell is representing more than 30 families in action against the trust.
Fiona Winser-Ramm is one of the bereaved parents who will take part in the public inquiry into Leeds maternity services.
Her daughter Aliona died less than half an hour after she was born in 2020, and the inquest found “a number of gross failures … directly contributed” to her death.
She told The Yorkshire Post previously: “We were in hospital, we believed we were in the safest place - and actually we were in the most dangerous of places.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Far from missed opportunities this government and the Health and Social Care Secretary are resolutely committed to driving forward urgent improvements in maternity care and safety.
“Baroness Amos’ national, independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal care will help us understand the systemic issues behind the unacceptable care many families have faced and the new National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State, will take decisive action on Baroness Amos’ recommendations to improve the experiences and outcomes for women and babies.
“We're also investing over £149m to make maternity units safer, rolling out a programme to reduce avoidable brain injury, and piloting Martha's Rule in maternity services - giving families the right to request an urgent second opinion if they have concerns."