- Rother Valley MP, Alexander Stafford, has backed the campaign calling on NHS Trusts to allow pregnant women support during appointments and birth.
- Despite government guidance that says NHS Trusts across England can allow partners into hospitals to support their pregnant partners, many local NHS Trusts are still imposing unnecessary restrictions.
“Devastated. Frightened. Powerless. Helpless. Shocked”. That’s how women have described learning about the fact that they would not be allowed to have family or their partner with them in hospital when they gave birth, or when they went in for crucial pregnancy scanning and testing. According to Make Birth Better, a pregnancy charity, one woman described having to have her c-section alone without any family present as the “hardest thing she has ever had to do.”
Last week, the UK Government issued clear guidance to NHS Trusts across England can allow partners into hospitals to support their pregnant partners, so the devastation and helplessness felt by some pregnant women does not persist. However, many NHS Trusts across the country are still imposing restrictions on support visitors during scans and early labour, and some Trusts still don’t allow visitors in at all throughout pregnancy.
This must change. Pregnant women are owed nothing less than having their loved ones with them during some of the most intense moments of their lives.
That is why Alexander Stafford MP is calling on The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust to immediately loosen restrictions on having supportive persons with pregnant women during all pregnancy scans and during every stage of labour, including early labour. Alexander Stafford is joining the national campaign started by his Conservative colleague, Alicia Kearns MP.
This campaign has already received the support of major pregnancy charities, including Pregnant Then Screwed, and over 60 MPs. All across the country pregnant women and their loved ones are asking more from the NHS Trusts. The NHS must listen.
Commenting, Alexander Stafford MP said:
“With my own wife having given birth during lockdown, I know first-hand how difficult the experience can be for mothers and how essential it is that partners are with the mothers at all stages of birth. This is why I am immensely proud to be a signatory of this extremely important initiative.”
“Pregnancy is full of surprises; often joyous, but sometimes tragic. I have heard stories of women who have had miscarriages alone in a hospital bed, with no family support at all. That is unacceptable, and NHS Trusts must be compassionate, must do right by UK women, and loosen restrictions immediately.”
Commenting, Founder of Pregnant Then Screwed Charity said:
''We are delighted to see that hospitals across the country have started to lift their restrictions ensuring women can attend scan appointments and the duration of labour with a partner or trusted person, and we are delighted to see that MPs across the country are pushing hard on their local NHS Trusts to make sure they lift restrictions if they haven’t already.”
“This initiative is imperative for the mental and physical health of a mother and her baby. If your hospital is yet to lift these restrictions, please write to your local hospital trust to explain how these restrictions are making you feel and to ask that they consider removing them in line with Government advice and advice from the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.”