The UK health system is experiencing a number of crises, with skyrocketing treatment waiting times and nurses being forced to strike just two of the historic challenges facing the NHS.
Another crucial area under threat is maternity care. Multiple reviews reveal the shocking state it is currently in. The picture is hugely concerning and shows a marked and worrying lack of progress in improving maternity standards. So, what do the reports say?
UK women are more likely to die around the time of birth
In November 2022, statistics cited by LBC found that the UK had nearly the worst death rates among pregnant mothers, at 9.6 deaths per 100,000 babies born.
An international team of researchers looking at two million live births in the UK, Italy, France, Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Slovakia between 2016 and 2018 found that only Slovakia had worse figures, at 10.9. Norway saw the fewest, at just 2.7.
The researchers called on health services to prioritise cardiovascular diseases and mental health to improve the results, and noted that the sharing of best practices would be key, enabling countries to share successful approaches.
The UK is experiencing a midwife shortage
The Royal College of Midwives warned in October 2021 that they were seeing an exodus of midwives from the NHS due to understaffing and fears of being unable to provide a good standard of care.
A shocking 57% of midwives surveyed said they were considering leaving the NHS in the coming year, with the least satisfied group being newly trained midwives – a big issue, given the difficulties getting new midwives into the service.
Burnout due to COVID-19, the effects of the cost-of-living crisis and failure of pay to match inflation, and a feeling amongst 92% of maternity staff that they are not valued by the current government are all compounding the problem.
Care quality is considered substandard
The NHS needs to provide a certain level of care. If not, it risks being hit by a wave of medical negligence claims from hurt and disaffected individuals that have been let down by substandard treatment.
Unfortunately though, it’s likely that the NHS will see claims dropping any time soon. That’s because October 2022 figures from the Care Quality Commission show that 39% of maternity units in England are providing substandard care, and that the picture is deteriorating. Staff training, working relationships between teams, and risk assessment were all problems, alongside staff not listening to patients as much as they should be doing.
Government called upon to fix crisis
With maternity beset by countless crises, all eyes are on the government and what they plan on doing to ease the issues. In March 2022, maternity unions explicitly called on the government to take urgent action on the staffing crisis and that if nothing was done, staff shortages would “impede the ability of maternity services to provide acceptable levels of safe, quality care”.
Signs the government has been listening are few and far between. In September, the health secretary Steve Barclay released a statement on support for urgent and emergency care, noting that the government had increased funding by £180 million to deal with ambulance backlogs and increased 999 callers by 350 compared to September 2021, and wanted to cut waiting times. Nothing was said about maternity care.
What do you think the government should do? Are they doing enough? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
