Here's a copy:
Dear Chairs and Chief Executives of NHS Trusts,
‘Devastated. Frightened. Powerless. Helpless. Shocked.’ That’s how one woman described the experience of being told, two days before her c-section, that she would not be allowed to have any family support in the room with her. It was, she said, ‘the hardest thing she has ever had to do’.
And she is not alone.
According to a recent Make Birth Better report, hundreds of women have experienced extremely
difficult pregnancies over the COVID-19 pandemic without any partner support at the most exciting, but also nerve-wracking, time of their lives.
Pregnancy is hard at the best of times. Exciting, but a great unknown. Each scan can bring surprises, both happy and tragic. Since the national lockdown was lifted, vast numbers of pregnant women have continued to sit alone in hospital rooms, without their partner or a family member as they hear life-changing news. Their partners have been locked out of scans and
hospital rooms, anxiously separated from the people they love most in the world with no idea whether the outcome would be as they hoped, or as they desperately feared. This must change.
The Government has given NHS Trusts guidance that states women should be permitted to have a
partner with them for all scans and at all stages of labour. Yet, as MPs we continue to be contacted by constituents devastated about the rules being put in place by hospitals refusing partners attendance.
Mary from Sutton Coldfield shared her experience: “I found out alone at my 12 week scan that my baby had died...I then had to go through surgery alone as they wouldn’t let my husband into the ward. I wish that no one has to go through this alone in future as it’s awful.”
Or Athena’s experience in Windsor, who had to endure more than four weeks of hospital visits and tests “alone” as she experienced a missed miscarriage.
These stories, and many more, were shared with Pregnant Then Screwed, a pregnancy advocacy organisation who works with Make Birth Better, and is campaigning to ensure women and their partners can support one another through pregnancy and birth.
We are failing women if restrictive support policies in pregnancy are allowed to continue one moment longer than they need to. That is why the Health Secretary Matt Hancock has issued formal guidance that NHS Trusts should allow women to have a supportive person with them for all scans and during every stage of labour.
Unfortunately, some NHS Trusts have been dragging their feet.
National lockdown has been lifted for a few months now, and as such we write today to urge all NHS Trusts to immediately allow partners or one close family member to attend all scans, (even if they may only enter the building for the scan itself) and to attend all stages of labour. This should also be swiftly communicated to expectant mothers and their support networks.
We have raised just three examples of families in the United Kingdom who have endured unimaginable anguish in their pregnancy, but there are thousands more stories that have not been told. Stories of women who have been traumatised by a lack of support at one of the most challenging times of their lives, and who have experienced real tragedy with no one by their side. And of course, women who have not been able to share their radiant joy as they watch their baby grow and give
birth.
Pregnancy, with all its ups and downs, is not something that should be experienced alone. Women deserve better than that. Partners deserve better than that. If mental health, and the health of pregnant women, is a top priority for NHS Trusts, they must all follow Government guidance and immediately loosen restrictions on who can join pregnant women in hospitals for scans and at all stages of labour. Our pregnant women are owed nothing less.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON SW1A 0AA