Rise in number of pregnant women in England not getting help they need, survey finds

More than a third of pregnant women in England do not always get help from maternity staff during labour or childbirth, the NHS care regulator has found.

Even more – almost half – do not always get help when they are in hospital after giving birth, a Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey of almost 19,000 women’s experiences of maternity care found.

A significant minority of women do not have confidence in the staff who look after them when they are receiving antenatal care (30%), during their labour and birth (23%) and after they have delivered their child (31%), the research also shows.

In addition, one in seven do not get the pain relief they feel they need during labour and birth and a quarter are unable to ask staff questions after their baby’s birth.

The worrying findings underline the already acute concern about the quality of care provided by NHS maternity services in England, many of which the CQC has deemed to be unsafe.

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Source: The Guardian, 28 November 2024