New mothers being driven to suicide, senior midwife warns

The senior midwife tasked by the government and NHS to investigate serious maternity scandals has warned that new mothers are being driven to suicide and backed an MP’s review into birth trauma.

Donna Ockenden said it was “appalling” that women who should be in the “happiest times of their lives” were taking their own lives, after it was found suicide was the leading direct cause of deaths up to 12 months after giving birth.

Ockenden, who has exposed poor maternity care across the country, is preparing to give evidence to an inquiry launched by Theo Clarke, the Conservative MP for Stafford, on birth trauma.

Clarke thought she was going to die after giving birth to her daughter Arabella last year, having suffered a third-degree tear.

But it was the lack of help available that opened her eyes to the estimated 200,000 women a year who experience birth trauma.

Ockenden told The Times she had “huge respect” for Clarke’s inquiry and said: “I think that this whole issue of maternal trauma, sometimes long-term psychological trauma for families as well post a difficult maternity experience, is not necessarily given enough air time.”

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Source: The Times, 8 January 2023