Risk of serious birth injuries is rising for women in England, data suggests

Women in England are at their highest risk of suffering a serious injury while giving birth since records began in 2020, NHS figures show.

The rate of women sustaining the most serious type of tear during childbirth rose to 31.1 in every 1,000 in January, February and March – the highest since monitoring started in 2020.

Similarly, the rate of women having a postpartum haemorrhage increased during 2025 to 31.2 in every 1,000 births – the highest annual rate over the five years data has been collected.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, who obtained the figures from NHS England, said: “Behind these statistics are women going through unimaginable trauma, requiring surgery and in many cases months or even years of recovery. Some will never fully recover.

“This news … shows that we need to treat maternity services as a national crisis. The truth is that we will not reverse this dangerous, unacceptable trend – of rising blood loss and record severe tears – until we make safety a priority.”

NHS bosses and ministers are preparing for the publication on Tuesday of Lady Amos’s government-commissioned report into the state of childbirth care. It will add to the increasingly urgent clamour for a major transformation of often-inadequate childbirth care in order to make it safe.

The government intends to publish an action plan to transform maternity services by the end of the year. But pressure is intensifying for it to spell out its plans sooner.

The rate of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears has risen to 31.1 in 1,000, from 25 in 1,000 when figures were first published in June 2020.

The rate of postpartum haemorrhage – which involves the loss of 1.5 litres of blood – has increased similarly over that time, from 25.6 in 1,000 to last year’s 31.65 in 1,000. It was slightly lower – 31.2 in 1,000 – in early 2026.

The Department of Health and Social Care voiced unease at the birth injury trends.

“These are concerning findings, and as last week’s shocking report into maternity services at Nottingham university hospitals [trust] underlined, too many women are being failed by poor quality maternity care,” a spokesperson said.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 28 June 2026