'Broken' system leaving a quarter of women to suffer negative childbirth experience
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One in four women who have given birth in the UK have reported a negative experience, new research finds, with campaigners calling on the health secretary to take urgent action to fix a "broken" system. Research carried out by campaign group Delivering Better also found that of those who reported a negative experience, more than half (54%) said they were less likely to want to have more children.
More than a third of all mothers said their birth experience left them with long-term mental health issues, a figure which jumps to seven out of 10 when respondents suffered a poor birthing experience. In September, the Care Quality Commission warned failings within NHS England maternity services were "more widespread" than previously thought. Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded saying the findings were "cause for national shame".
Follow our channel and never miss an update. The warning came months after a maternity expert behind a key report told Sky News she was "angry" about inaction from the previous government. After saying the "crisis in our maternity services... is one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night", Mr Streeting in October launched a "national conversation", asking staff and patients alike about their experience of the NHS to help structure a plan to fix it.
But Delivering Better, which is made up of campaigning mothers, said evidence is already available with an estimated 1,600 babies being born in the UK every day. Attempts to create synthetic 'mirror' bacteria must be stopped as it could be 'catastrophic' for life on Earth, researchers say.
