Covid pandemic births: Mothers 'pitted against midwives'

Women have spoken to the BBC about the "nightmare" of giving birth during the restrictions imposed because of Covid.

The London Assembly was told a de facto maternity ward ban on partners meant new mums often got very little support.

Campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed said elective Caesareans spiked, as women tried to find a way to have their partner by their side.

Patient care also suffered as maternity units struggled with what a midwifery group said was a 40% staff absence.

A London Assembly health committee review of Covid pandemic pregnancy care has heard that more than three-quarters of the some 110,000 women who gave birth in the capital in 2020 were believed to have done so without their partner's support.

Joeli Brearley, director of Pregnant then Screwed, said elective Caesarean rates increased from 15% to 24%: "Women were requesting severe surgery simply so their partner could be there."

Suzanne Tyler, from the Royal College of Midwives, agreed that London hospitals were badly affected by staff shortages.

"At its worst, staffing was 40% down," she said. "The babies didn't stop coming during Covid but services did have to be rationalised."

Dr Tyler, who said the pandemic "ended up pitting midwives against women", criticised "confusing... contradictory" advice from the government and NHS England that "kept changing".

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Source: BBC News, 26 July 2022