The King's Fund: Improving maternal and infant outcomes and reducing inequalities (22 July 2026)

Summary

Reviews of maternity services have repeatedly exposed poor-quality care and unacceptable failures during pregnancy and childbirth. Improving maternity services and ensuring that timely, high quality, compassionate and safe care is the norm must become an urgent NHS priority. However, much more needs to be done if the UK is to improve maternal and infant outcomes and tackle the persistent inequalities that contribute to its poor international ranking on maternal and infant outcomes.