NHS to overhaul maternal care in England to tackle pregnancy deaths

The NHS has announced every maternity service in England will have to upend clinical standards to reduce the number of women who die during or after pregnancy.

Increasing numbers of women have been reported to be dying during pregnancy or in the weeks after giving birth.

According to the latest official data, there were 252 maternal deaths from 2022 to 2024 – 20% higher than the rates from 2009 to 2011. This is the equivalent of 12.8 deaths for every 100,000 women giving birth.

NHS England's chief midwife Kate Brintworth (CMO) told Sky News that, while improvements were being made, "none of us think care is in the right place".

"We don't think that things are good enough," she said.

"It's a terrible anguish to lose a child," she added. "I think it's one of the worst things that can happen to a human, and our responsibility as leaders in maternity is to make sure those families don't experience that anguish."

Ms Brintworth hopes today's announcements will ensure avoidable deaths are "significantly" reduced.

The Maternity Safety Alliance, a campaign group, said it was "alarmed" that Ms Brintworth's response to the data suggested "a lack of urgency, accountability and meaningful action" to the "long known and completely avoidable harm and death that is happening everyday in our maternity services".

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Source: Sky News, 23 April 2026