What we’re hearing about maternity care

Since 2015, we have continually heard feedback about shortcomings with maternity care. Our review of people's feedback in February 2026 shows why this area of healthcare is subject to intense national scrutiny and calls for major improvements. 

Background

Healthcare decision-makers have recognised that they must address issues around maternity care. In June 2025, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a rapid national investigation into the quality and safety of maternity care, which is due to report this year.

In September 2025, the Health and Social Care Select Committee published its report on Black maternal health, identifying key areas the Government must focus on to improve care. 

And the Government has asked senior midwife, Donna Ockendon, to review failings of maternity care at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She is also reviewing Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and previously reviewed Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust in 2022.

Key themes

Five themes stood out in the feedback people shared with us.

The importance of feeling listened to

Women must feel listened to and taken seriously at all stages of maternity care. They are experts in their own bodies and how they feel pain. This is particularly important when women are making birth plans:

“We had an hour Zoom meeting where [the community midwife] talked through everything and helped me put one together. She was brilliant and really tried to make everything I wanted possible.”

Story shared with Healthwatch Lancashire

Yet too often women felt healthcare professionals dismissed their concerns and experiences. This led to women being denied pain relief, developing infections, and not being supported to breastfeed:

“I was told I was not in labour and was dismissed because I was a first-time mum, despite being in active labour. I had no aftercare following a second-degree tear and stitches. My husband had greater care following his vasectomy. I had no breastfeeding support and was dismissed by health visitors when I raised mental health concerns with them."

Story shared with Healthwatch England

Black and Asian mothers in particular raised issues of their concerns being dismissed, including when asking for pain relief in labour, and of staff holding inaccurate and discriminatory attitudes about ethnic minority mothers. A Somali woman who had been given medication to induce labour told Healthwatch Tower Hamlets:

“I asked [the midwife] to check me as I’m in labour, and she refused. I asked her again and begged her… She told me to walk [to the labour ward] and I said I can’t, I'm in a lot of pain. I had to beg for a wheelchair. She did a handover to a Somali midwife. I felt relieved. I asked her to check me, but she said she wasn’t not allowed to because they said I wasn’t in active labour. I said, ‘just because I'm speaking calmly or not screaming and shouting it doesn't mean I’m not in labour.’ She then checked me, and immediately pressed the emergency button for help...”

Partners who were present at birth also talked about being dismissed and not listened to. One father explained to Healthwatch Cumberland how irrelevant he felt as his partner was experiencing a very traumatic birth:

“Nobody explained to either me or my partner what was going on. I only left if I needed the toilet, but I still felt that I wasn’t part of the process. At one point, I overheard something that made me think mum and baby were going to die. Nobody spoke to me. It was such an out of body experience, like I was looking through a window.”

Women need clear information to make decisions about their care

Women emphasised the importance of having all the information at the right time – to make a realistic birth plan, change their birth plan if things weren’t going well and look after themselves and their baby after birth. When this happened, women felt empowered:

“I had regular antenatal appointments that kept me well informed and made me feel safe and in control. I expressed severe anxieties about birth at one appointment and got support there and then, as well as a referral to a birthing options midwife who supported me through pregnancy with advice. During labour, I was asked if I would like to change my plans as things weren’t progressing and we decided to have a c section.”

Story shared with Healthwatch England

Mothers whose first language wasn’t English needed information in their own language and interpreters for appointments. They appreciated it when it was provided, and struggled when it was not. 

For example, Healthwatch Wakefield arranged a 15 Steps visit to their local maternity ward, involving recent mothers who didn’t speak English well. They found interpreters weren’t always available when women were in labour. This caused additional stress during emergency procedures.

Sometimes women didn’t have any choice if they needed emergency interventions, such as a C-section or forceps-assisted birth. They appreciated healthcare staff clearly explaining why it was necessary and what was going to happen. When this didn’t happen, women felt let down:

“My pain was 10/10, my blood pressure kept getting higher, and I was incredibly distressed. I ended up with an emergency caesarean under general anaesthetic. I found out in a birth reflections appointment that my baby was back to back (hence the pain), which the midwives all knew but didn't tell me.”

Story shared with Healthwatch England

The importance of continuity of care

Continuity of care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period is important. However, people told us they aren’t consistently experiencing continuity of care from maternity care providers. This was particularly the case after birth, where midwives hand over care to GPs and health visitors:

“They hadn't read my notes, so weren't aware I'd had an emergency C-section or that I'd had gestational diabetes until I told them, which made me feel a bit of an afterthought. I definitely needed some postpartum anxiety support following a traumatic birth and some issues with a heel prick test result, but nothing was asked about or offered at the time, and I didn't know what help to ask for.”

Story shared with Healthwatch England

The importance of adequate staff and birthing facilities

The Care Quality Commission’s review of maternity services found poor staffing levels and unsuitable maternity units with inadequate equipment contributed to poor care. The Royal College of Midwives found that 87% of their members said their units weren’t safely staffed.

We heard about women in labour having to sit in waiting rooms until a bed in the maternity unit became available, women in labour for hours without staff checking on them, and insufficient staff, especially on postnatal wards: 

“I was left in a waiting room with no medical care until 7cms dilated because no midwives were available…After delivery, they had to run out of the room to tend to an emergency – leaving myself and my newborn vulnerable and not cleaned up, with bags of biological waste on the floor for hours.”

Story shared with Healthwatch England

The impact of good and poor maternity care

Research shows women remember their babies’ births distinctly and in detail. Some of the women who responded to our calls for evidence gave birth years ago, but could recount their experience clearly. Women were grateful for staff who listened to them, supported them and gave them the information they needed to make a decision.

Poor care could have long-term impacts both on the mother’s physical and mental health and her wider life. Women told us about the impact of slow-healing injuries, developing sepsis, and even needing further surgery to put things right. They reported PTSD after traumatic births and needed mental health support. Some didn’t want to have another baby because of what they’d been through:

“Immediately after birth myself and my husband were left alone for hours. I…ended up in an absolute state by about 3am due to not receiving care. My stitches were done badly and came undone within two days. I got an infection which was not spotted for a bit… [I]t was a really unpleasant experience but I felt that was due to understaffing and staff being overwhelmed rather than not being good at their jobs. It left me feeling unsafe and unwell and unsure if I ever want another child when I previously very much did.”

Story shared with Healthwatch England

The impact can be long-lasting:

“…I felt pressured into a situation that wasn’t clearly explained to me, this led to the room turning into a theatre, me being cut and my son being forcefully removed. I am still traumatised nearly seven years later.”

Story shared with Healthwatch England

Our recommendations

These experiences show that despite some progress in maternity care, women and families don’t always get safe, personalised and compassionate care. Being listened to, having clear and timely information, consistent support from familiar professionals, and access to adequately staffed and equipped services are not optional extras. They are fundamental to good maternity care. 

When these elements are missing, the consequences can be life-changing. Addressing these issues must be a priority if maternity services are to rebuild trust, reduce inequalities, and ensure every woman and baby receives the quality of care they deserve.

The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation recently published interim findings. Its chair, Baroness Valerie Amos, described many of the same themes women shared with Healthwatch. 

Her final report will develop a set of national recommendations. A new National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will use these to develop and deliver an action plan of improvements.

To improve maternity and neonatal experience and safety and tackle inequalities, the Government must:

• Ensure its new taskforce has teeth to drive improvements that multiple reviews have previously recommended and to prevent failures at individual NHS trusts.
• Clarify the future of Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnerships, which listen to local women and families about experiences and work with health staff, hospitals and services to improve care. They are currently funded via NHS England to the end of March 2027.
• Continue to measure maternity care experiences, including whether people receive ‘person-centred and rights-based care’, as recommended in new principles set out by the nursing and midwifery regulator in 2025.
• Set out the level of midwife recruitment and retention required to deliver safe and high-quality care in the forthcoming 10-Year Workforce Plan.