I do find the protectiveness of the ward system in maternity in the UK bizarre with regard to staffing and safety. Its bizarre as so many 1st world countries use private rooms as the standard. Notably there are many countries where its accepted that men can stay overnight. It is a debate which in many regards is peculiarly British in nature.
With regard to cost of doing this in the UK (as I am aware that private health care does make things slightly different elsewhere around the world). However I believe that the maternity in NHS Scotland has switched to a private room system rather than a ward one. So why can't England and Wales do the same? I know of at least one maternity hospital close to me in England which is private rooms only too. I also can think of several others close by who have undergone massive redevelopment in recent years, so the opportunity and ability to put private rooms in was there but not taken. Why? Its not just down to building cost. There are inherent expectation of standards that are shared by the public which mean we don't challenge or question planning decisions of this nature.
As highlighted on this thread there are many reasons why someone might NEED a private room, regardless of whether they have a partner stay, and at present these needs are not being properly acknowledged never mind catered for. I do feel that even those who have had this need have been in part accepting of this and making justifications about the need to prioritise the need for a private room case by case. I find it appalling. It should be that anyone who has a good case for a private room, shouldn't be competing with other women for who has the greatest need. They should all get one.
I think there is a huge case to answer due to the higher costs of poor care in the longer term. Short termist thinking is costing women (and men) not only physically and mentally but also financially because the focus is so short sighted. It is so frustrating when so many people are buying into this bullshit of 'can't afford'. Lets please put this into the context it deserves. One of the biggest costs to maternity departments is not staff, nor even facilities (unless they are PFI which is another debate entirely). Its INSURANCE. So poorly performing hospitals get charged higher premiums so are put in a position where they can't afford as many staff as better performing hospitals, which is utterly absurd! Its certainly not improving safety, performance or patient well being in any way is it? Frankly that one is scandalous. Look at things like how much agency nursing is costing the NHS and why don't we have a NHS version which has to be used first.
People are just not asking the right questions or looking at the right thing. And unfortunately the political nature of the NHS means that politicians of all colours make political mileage of it, and have no real interest in sorting out the problems as they can win as many votes through doing fuck all apart from kicking the football a bit further down the road and blaming someone else for problems. No one is really holding anyone accountable. That is the fault of ALL the political parties who don't want to admit any responsibility or take on the challenges of sorting out the mess.
Stop buying the political bullshit and accepting poor management and making long posts justifying how we can't afford things and we need to ration things. Its a myth. All you are doing the arguing on behalf of others who you probably can't stand politically, allowing them to get away without answering the real questions. Its funny, because everyone is busy criticising the WEP here yet are then supporting the status quo of mainstream politics. I don't see the WEP as any better or worse tbh yet they have 'lost votes' because they have an idea which at its heart isn't any worse than anyone else you might vote for.
I do believe that half the problem is that we have all become so culturally accepting of sub standard maternity wards that the suck it up / defeatist attitude is the one that is silencing and preventing effective campaigning more than anything else.