Lib Dems call for one-to-one midwife care for every woman in labour in £600m plan to end maternity care crisis

EMBARGO: 2230 Wednesday 25th March

Lib Dems call for one-to-one midwife care for every woman in labour in £600m plan to end maternity care crisis

• Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey announces new £600m rescue plan for maternity care
   
• The plans would put a specialist doctor on every maternity ward 24/7 to end after hours lottery of care
   
• Every woman in labour would get a dedicated midwife to provide one-to-one care

The Liberal Democrats will today (Thursday 26th March) announce plans for a £600m rescue plan to end the scandal of poor maternity care, including ensuring specialist consultants are present 24/7 on every maternity ward and providing one-to-one midwife care for every woman during labour.

The party said the plans would end the scandal of rising injuries and complications due to failings in maternity care and help “make Britain the safest place in the world to have a baby”.

New analysis of official NHS maternity data by the Liberal Democrats has revealed there were 147,692 cases of heavy bleeding after childbirth (postpartum haemorrhage) in 2024, an increase of 13,600 compared to 2020 and now representing over a quarter (27%) of all deliveries. The number of emergency c-sections has also risen to a record high. It follows previous findings that the rate of severe tears in childbirth has increased to record levels.

The Liberal Democrat plan to drastically improve maternity care would include:

• Guaranteeing one-to-one care from a midwife for all women in labour
• Ensuring that at least one consultant obstetrician is always on a labour ward 24/7
• Reversing cuts to funding for enhanced care for complex pregnancies and bereavement
• A new maternity commissioner responsible for overseeing improved levels of care

Previous research has found that 73% of maternity units do not have a consultant present at night, despite most births taking place outside of working hours, and that many negligence claims are linked to failings in care outside of regular working hours. The Liberal Democrat plans would ensure it is no more dangerous to give birth at night or at a weekend as at any other time, by ensuring a resident consultant obstetrician is present on labour wards 24/7.

The plan is expected to bring every maternity unit up to “good” or “outstanding” levels of safety. It would come alongside a new capital investment programme to fix the more than half of maternity units in need of repair.

The rescue package would help to reduce ballooning NHS spending on maternal clinical negligence claims, which was over £1.3bn in 2024 alone. The NHS has faced an estimated £27.4 billion bill for maternity negligence in England since 2019.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“Every mother deserves the best standard of care, but too many families have experienced tragic consequences because of failings on maternity wards.

“Despite review after review, the same mistakes keep being made, and women and babies are paying the price. We need a maternity rescue plan now, to ensure the best clinical expertise at all times on maternity wards and bring every unit up to good safety standards.

“Women and families have waited long enough. Britain should be the safest country in the world to have a baby, and Liberal Democrats will not rest until it is.”

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

“In my own community in Shropshire, we’ve seen the devastating toll that failures in maternity can take on families. It beggars belief that vital maternity services remain under-staffed and underfunded while mothers go without the care they need and the NHS spends billions on compensation for negligence.

“It cannot go on. By securing the experienced staff we need, fixing crumbling units and making safety a priority we can ensure every mother and baby gets the care they deserve."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The full proposal can be found here.

The Liberal Democrats £600m per year maternity rescue plan aims to bring every unit up to “good” or “outstanding” standards of safety in the face of growing complexity and risk, with a new maternity commissioner who would be accountable for meeting this goal.

This would come alongside a new “capital investment programme” that would fix the more than half of units in need of repair and deliver new high quality facilities like bereavement suites. The programme would include restoration of the 42% of English maternity units in need of major repair and immediate repair work on the  7% of units that run a risk of imminent breakdown.

Lib Dem analysis of maternity outcome data showing increased numbers suffering from post-partum haemorrhages and antepartum haemorrhages can be found here. Post-partum haemorrhage in this case is defined as “blood loss greater than 500 ml or of the amount that adversely affects the maternal physiology, such as blood pressure and hematocrit”. On the “method of delivery” tab you can see that the rate of emergency caesarians have more than doubled since 1999, and are at a historic high.

The Care Quality Commission, based on an inspection of 131 maternity units, found that 65% of units are not safe enough. 47% of trusts require improvement on safety, and a further 18% are rated inadequate.

The Government cut ring-fenced funding for those with complex pregnancies and bereavement from £95 million to just £2 million, the Liberal Democrats would reverse these cuts in full.

The £27.4bn bill for maternity negligence is referenced on page 1 of this Health and Social Care committee report.

The infrastructure risks in the maternity estate are described here.

Reporting by the Guardian of previous Liberal Democrat research can be found showing rising rates of deaths, rising rates of tears, and rising rates of severe blood loss.