Let’s unpack that
Why Yvette Cooper is the last hope to fix the NHS maternity nightmare
In the midst of Britain’s ongoing maternity crisis highlighted in horrific investigations that demand action, Radhika Sanghani explores why a female health secretary could signal a turning point – so long as she listens to the campaigners calling for urgent change
The state of Britain’s maternity wards is so bad that recent reports have found mothers were left to “bleed out” in bathrooms while babies have suffered avoidable deaths. It’s no surprise that maternity care in the UK is now referred to as a “crisis”; maternal deaths are rising by a fifth in a decade (a rate that is much higher among black women), and two-thirds of England’s maternity units fail to meet required safety standards.
Campaigners, bereaved families, charities, midwives and expectant mothers like myself are all united in our stance that something needs to change. Now.
But despite recent investigations such as the Amos and Ockenden reports, which laid out necessary actions to overhaul maternity care, the government hasn’t really changed anything at all.
It’s why there is hope now that the appointment of Yvette Cooper as health secretary will change things. In an interview with the Guardian, she promised a reform of maternity standards, inspired by how they were 25 years ago, adding that back then the focus was on “women and families being at the centre of care and about listening to women’s views.
“It is really shocking and distressing feeling that has somehow been lost in some of the maternity units where actually it should be the central issue.”
She went on to say that maternity is a huge priority for her – in fact in her first statement as Health Secretary she said she’s “looking forward to working urgently to improve maternity services” – and said that women shouldn’t feel pressured into having “an ideal birth.”
Her comments feel like a step in the right direction, though of course, what we really need is action. But campaigners and families are hopeful. Not just because of what Cooper has said so far, but because, well, she’s a woman.
“What we do need within our health department is a strong woman who is capable of standing up and speaking out about this and isn’t going to take any rubbish – whether that’s a woman health secretary of state or a junior minister,” Michelle Welsh, the government’s maternity adviser and Labour MP, told me last month.
In the same interview, she also admitted being “ashamed” that pregnant women can’t walk into a hospital and assume it will be safe. She believed that having a woman in charge would help to finally change things.
Hiba Siddiqui, founder of The Tenth, which provides clinically-led maternal support and recovery for women, believes: “Yvette Cooper’s appointment is an encouraging step for women’s health. She has consistently spoken about the importance of maternity services, and we hope that focus translates into meaningful action for women and families across the UK.”
Cooper is a mother herself, so has lived experience of maternity care in the UK and there is a hope that she will be able to listen to women – one of the biggest issues called out in the Amos review is the culture that fails to listen to women. But we can’t assume change will come just because Cooper’s a woman.
“Treating this as a ‘women’s issue’ is precisely why it has been allowed to languish,” argues Jo Cruse, founder of Delivering Better, a campaign group calling for maternity reform. “We hope Yvette Cooper will meet this crisis with the urgency and political will its scale demands – not because she is a woman, but because she is the health secretary, and safe maternity care is the foundation of public health.”
Cruse, who experienced a traumatic birth herself, sustaining both physical and psychological injuries, added: “Maternity care is not a niche corner of women’s health – it is the shopfront of the NHS, the first encounter millions of families have with our health service. It should be an urgent priority for any health secretary.”
She’s right – but the problem is that it just hasn’t been a priority for recent health secretaries. The last time maternity was at the top of the health secretary’s agenda was when Victoria Atkins (surprise, another woman) was in charge from 2023 to 2024. She’d experienced a “frightening” birth herself, and announced £50m funding for research to tackle maternal disparities, as well as improve support for maternal mental health.
Her actions were welcome, but didn’t go far enough – she focused on research rather than frontline maternity services, leaving families affected by maternity scandals calling for accountability and sustained investment.
If this is to mark a genuine turning point, we need to see meaningful improvements in maternity care, not simply renewed promises
Hiba Siddiqui, founder of The Tenth, a London-based postpartum retreat
Tom Hender, a maternity safety campaigner whose son Aubrey was stillborn in 2022 – something he believes could have been avoided with better maternity care – hopes that Cooper will listen to bereaved and harmed families. The Maternity Safety Alliance, supported by 160 harmed families and supporters, have written to her calling for a statutory public inquiry into maternity and neonatal services but has not yet received a response.
There are also calls for Cooper to create a more cohesive, connected maternity system. “Too many women still experience fragmented care, repeating their story to multiple professionals, receiving inconsistent advice and being left to navigate recovery alone,” says Siddiqui.
In her first week as health secretary, Cooper visited Royal Berkshire Hospital’s maternity department – she’s filmed saying: “It’s that very beginning of somebody’s life, a newborn’s life; it’s so important”, as well as reminding us that she was a junior minister in the health department 25 years ago, and hopes to pick up on those issues.
But Catherine Roy, author of Maternity: An Ongoing British Scandal, took to X to point out that back then she helped “demedicalise childbirth and design the policies involved in the maternity scandals of recent years.”
“In 25 years, have Ms Cooper’s views on childbirth changed?” she asks.
It’s clear that Cooper wants us all to see that maternity care is a priority for her, which is welcome news to campaigners, harmed families and families-to-be. But it still remains to be seen whether her words will transform into actions – and if so, when.
The government has announced its National Action Plan to overhaul maternity services will be published in December – something Donna Ockenden, senior midwife, has said is too far away. “We don’t have the luxury of six months. How long does it take once the action plan is out to then get that implemented?”
If Cooper wants to really fix the NHS maternity crisis, she’ll need to do more than wait six months to publish yet another report – what we need is tangible action. As Siddiqui says: “Women will judge [Cooper’s] appointment by outcomes, not representation. If this is to mark a genuine turning point, we need to see meaningful improvements in maternity care, not simply renewed promises.”
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