Today (16 November) Birthrights has released Speak Up, Speak Out, a new film to demystify the complaints process. The film features the real-life stories of three women, whose birth experiences led them to considering or making a complaint about their care.
Amy Gibbs, Chief Executive of Birthrights said
‘We understand the current pressures on midwives as the long-standing staffing crisis worsens and COVID-19 cases rise, and we have been raising concerns with the Government through the NHS England stakeholder council and supporting RCM’s calls for urgent investment. As we said in a letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care today, we are calling for the Government to agree to the Health and Social Care Committee’s calls to increase the budget for maternity services by a minimum of £200 – £350 million per year in order to ensure adequate and sustainable staffing levels.
However, the right to be cared for with dignity and respect always stands, and maternity services and Trusts need feedback to make the case for more staff and greater investment in services.
We hope Speak Up, Speak Out will encourage women and birthing people to speak up and speak out about their birth experiences to maternity services and Trusts. They are helping future pregnant women and birthing people by doing so.’
Watch Speak Up, Speak Out
Notes for editors
Read our letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care here.
About Birthrights
Birthrights is the UK charity that champions respectful maternity care by protecting human rights. We provide advice and legal information to women and birthing people, train healthcare professionals to deliver rights-respecting care and campaign to change maternity policy and systems.
This is a powerful film. Well done to the producers and directors…. and the very people that had the idea to circulate this. An important message, that this film portrays perfectly.
As a black woman who is a grandmother snd recently a great grandmother my family has had traumatic experiences and extremely painful memories of the NHS maternity services received by both my daughter and granddaughter.
We have lost one grandchild and very nearly lost our great grandson and granddaughter because of the lack of a competent respectful professional responses prior to and during childbirth.
Both women were too traumatised to complain, despite being urged to do so, not wanting to relive a second of the trauma.
They are both professional women, one a lawyer and the other a pharmacist but nevertheless could not bring themselves to explore the complaint process.
There are in my view significant hidden statistics and many untold stories.
I applaud all those involved in making the video, particularly the women who were able to speak out.