'Cause for national shame': damning report released into Britain's maternity care
The shocking state of NHS England's maternity services has been branded a 'cause for national shame' by the health secretary, as ITV News Health Correspondent Rebecca Barry reports
A mother, whose baby's death is believed to have been avoidable, has said it is "disgusting" to learn of a warning from the healthcare watchdog that poor quality NHS maternity care across England will become "normalised" if action is not taken.
Laura Bowtell told ITV News that leaving the hospital "with an empty car seat is one of the hardest things I have ever done".
Her comments come following the publication of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report, which brings together findings from 131 inspections.
The report highlighted that many failings identified in recent high-profile investigations into NHS maternity services are "more widespread".
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Ms Botwell's daughter, Margot Frances Bowtell, died three days after her delivery at a midwife-run NHS centre in Cheltenham on May 17 2020.
Margot died of a hypoxic brain injury, which is believed to have been avoidable.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has accepted liability for Margot's death.
Ms Botwell said her family were "failed" by the trust, adding: "We just knew that we were never going to bring her home, and leaving with an empty car seat is one of the hardest things I have ever done."
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The publication of the CQC report comes after Health Secretary Wes Streeting described the quality of maternity care as "one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night".
Of the 131 units inspected as part of a national programme between August 2022 and December 2023, almost half (48%) were rated as requires improvement or inadequate.
Only 4% were classed as outstanding and 48% were rated as good.
NHS maternity care has been under increased scrutiny in recent years after several high-profile inquiries, such as the Ockenden Review into more than 200 baby deaths at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and the investigation into maternity services in East Kent.
The report said: "Key issues continue to impact quality and safety - and disappointingly, none of them are new."
Nicola Wise, director of secondary and specialist care at the CQC, added: "Sadly, our latest maternity inspection programme has further evidenced the need for urgent action with continued problems indicating that the failings uncovered in recent high-profile investigations are not isolated to just a handful of individual trusts.
"Although we've seen examples of good care and seen hardworking, compassionate staff doing their best, we remain concerned that key issues continue to impact quality and safety."
Incidents are poorly managed and not learned from, according to the CQC, which raised concerns "about the potential normalising of serious harm in maternity".
The CQC's Nicola Wise said commonalities between inadequate services include 'poor infrastructure, poor environments and lack of safety equipment'
Some NHS estates were described as "not fit for purpose", lacking the "space and facilities and, in a small number of cases, appropriate levels of potentially life-saving equipment".
Speaking at an Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) event in London on Wednesday, Streeting said: "Women deserve better - childbirth should not be something they fear or look back on with trauma.
"It is simply unacceptable that nearly half of maternity units the CQC reviewed are delivering substandard care."
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