We were not treated as parents, Covid inquiry told

A mother of premature twins has told the Covid inquiry she did not feel like she was treated as a parent after giving birth in the early stages of the pandemic.

Tamsin Mullen said she was kept in a side room for 27 hours after giving birth by caesarean section while her sons were taken to neonatal intensive care.

She said “rigid” visiting restrictions meant that, for the next month, only one parent was allowed to visit her newborn babies at a time.

"We needed the hospital to understand we were a family," she told the inquiry.

“We didn’t feel like a mother and father to our children in the way we should have done.”

The Covid inquiry has been taking evidence about the impact on maternity services as part of its third section, or module, which is investigating the impact on the NHS and healthcare.

Ms Mullen, a mother of three, was giving first-hand "impact" evidence on behalf of 13 pregnancy, baby and parent organisations.

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Source: BBC News, 7 October 2024