Good maternity care 'exception rather than the rule', birth trauma inquiry finds

Good care for pregnant women "is the exception rather than the rule", a landmark inquiry has said.

A parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma has found there was "shockingly poor quality" in maternity services, which resulted in care that lacked compassion and a system where "poor care is all too frequently tolerated as normal".

The inquiry's report is set to be released later this morning and was first reported by The Times.

The report also found that women were "treated as an inconvenience" and errors were covered up by hospitals that "frustrated parents' efforts to find answers".

Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, said that the experiences uncovered in the report were "harrowing".

The Times reported that the inquiry found new mothers had been left on blood-soaked sheets for hours, berated by midwives, or in one case been dismissed as an "anxious mother" when her baby then later died from complications that she was warning about.

The report calls for a new maternity commissioner who will report to the prime minister.

Each year, around 30,000 women will suffer a negative experience before, during or after delivery.

In 2011, Sarah Embleton suffered a serious birthing tear which was missed by doctors for more than a year - leading to complications.

"I was in a lot of pain a lot of the time because obviously things that healed by themselves in a way that they shouldn't have done, she told Sky News.

"So, urgency, not being able to hold in, needing to go to the loo, that sort of physical side was pretty horrendous."

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She added: "Also the psychological side as well, I was diagnosed with PTSD.

"There is no area of my life that was untouched by it."