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Latest News
Birthrights calls for protection of UK women giving birth during coronavirus
Birthrights has today released a statement calling for NHS England and the Royal Colleges to protect the rights of women giving birth during coronavirus. We applaud the dedication of maternity professionals across the UK. Despite the challenges faced by maternity services we must remain united in the belief that every woman needs safe, respectful and … Read more
Coronovirus – how will it affect my rights to maternity care?
(updated 6th April 2020) If you are pregnant, you may be concerned about how coronavirus or COVID-19 (the illness resulting from coronavirus) will affect your rights to maternity care, if cases increase significantly as expected. The NHS has general information on its website about coronavirus. The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) has information … Read more
Birthrights and BPAS ask Government to publish pain relief inquiry
“It is … critical that the report is made publicly available, so that all organisations working in the sector can learn from it and work to address the underlying causes” Today Birthrights and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) wrote to the Health Minister, Nadine Dorries, asking the Government to publish their inquiry into pain … Read more
Birthrights backs return of maternity training fund
Birthrights has signed an open letter to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, calling for the reinstatement of the Maternity Safety Training Fund. The letter was initiated by the charity Baby Lifeline. The last Maternity Safety Training Fund, in 2016, enabled Trusts to access a wide range of training courses to ensure staff were up to … Read more
A further update on Oxford’s maternal request caesarean policy
Sir Jonathan Montgomery (Chair of the Trust Board) wrote to Birthrights this week on behalf of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH), to provide a long overdue update on their maternal request caesarean policy. Whilst there was no indication that OUH’s policy of referring women to Gloucester has changed, Sir Jonathan did extend the … Read more
IDECIDE – a new consent tool is on its way…
You may have heard talk of IDECIDE – a new tool to help healthcare professionals to support women to make informed decisions in labour. In this blog we explain what IDECIDE is, where it came from, and when you can expect to see it in action… OK, so what is IDECIDE? IDECIDE is a digital … Read more
Birthrights is coming to Leeds and Newcastle
Tickets have gone on sale for two more Birthrights training days! We will be coming to Leeds on 20th March and Newcastle on 22nd April. For more information about our training, please visit the training section on our website!
12 highlights of 2019
Last year our (then new) Chief Executive, Amy Gibbs, started a new tradition of taking time at the end of the year to reflect on some of our annual highlights. None of our work would be possible without our fantastic wider team of amazing Trustees, trainers, volunteers, and funders – from hugely supportive Trusts and … Read more
Birthrights welcomes release of MBRRACE report following legal action
We are pleased that the MBRRACE-UK report: Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care has finally been published today. The findings – yet again exposing serious racial inequalities in maternal deaths – are a stark reminder of the urgent need to share the lessons learned from these tragedies, to improve care and save lives. On 26 November, … Read more
Update: Birthrights and Leigh Day legal challenge calling for urgent release of the MBRRACE report
Last week, Birthrights challenged NHS England’s decision not to publish the annual maternity care MBRRACE report until after the election. We received a response from NHS England’s lawyers stating they would reply substantively to our concerns within 14 days (by 10 December) and intend to publish the report on 13 December. Our solicitors, Leigh Day, … Read more