‘Incredibly concerned’: experts slam government's 10-Year Health Plan for ignoring birth trauma and consent
Campaigners frustrated that government’s 10-Year NHS Health Plan overlooks birth trauma care, despite years-long calls for change.
While the government’s newly launched 10-Year Health Plan is being heralded as a step forward for general health services, there are grave concerns that it misses the mark on maternity care.
Despite broad ambitions to digitise the NHS, expand perinatal mental health support and address inequalities, the 133-page plan makes zero mention of trauma birth and misses key recommendations set out in the 2024 Birth Trauma Inquiry, a report driven by the harrowing experiences of thousands of women and families across the UK.
A new plan with old promises?
The “Fit for the Future” health strategy, unveiled by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting today, lays out transformative changes to the NHS over the next decade.
The plan focuses on prevention, digitisation, and community care, and includes some strong points for families, like expanding perinatal mental health hubs and digital maternity records.
But campaigners are ‘incredibly concerned’ and say the plan’s failure to directly tackle trauma-informed maternity care, and the long-standing issues of systemic accountability risks letting birth trauma continue unchallenged.
What’s missing: trauma-informed care, consent & safety
The 2024 Birth Trauma Inquiry, published under the previous Conservative government, issued 12 clear recommendations to address systemic failings that led to preventable birth injuries, trauma, and maternal PTSD. Among these were calls for mandatory trauma-informed care training for all maternity staff.
These recommendations build on the 2023 Three-Year Maternity and Neonatal Plan, which had already begun rolling out equity and consent-focused training, specialist care, and oversight programmes.
Yet the new 10-Year Plan does not mention trauma-informed care at all, nor does it reference respectful birth practices or improved consent, all of which were central to the findings of the trauma inquiry.
What does this mean for mums?
For thousands of mums who have shared stories of birth trauma, an issue which studies suggest affects one in three new mums, the new 10-Year Health Plan risks being a missed opportunity.
Despite wide-ranging ambitions for NHS reform, the plan makes no mention of trauma-informed care, a core recommendation of the 2024 inquiry and a major focus of the previous government’s maternity strategy. There’s also no clear commitment to improving how consent, communication and compassionate care are delivered in maternity settings.
This omission hasn’t gone unnoticed by campaigners and charities, especially those supporting women who have experienced miscarriage, birth injury or systemic inequity.
Reacting to today’s announcement, Laura-Rose Thorogood, CEO of Make Birth Better, a national campaign group focused on preventing birth trauma and improving perinatal care, told MadeForMums the organisation is “incredibly concerned” about the omission.
Following on from the Birth Trauma Inquiry, little impact has been made to push forward systemic change — especially for Black and Brown women and birthing people, the queer community, disabled service users and other marginalised communities, all of whom are at risk of the poorest outcomes.
Dr Kim Thomas, CEO of the Birth Trauma Association and author of the 2024 inquiry's report, welcomed some of the plan’s practical steps on data and transparency, but also acknowledged the plan's omissions.
There is so much more that needs to be done in maternity, and we would love to see the implementation of the recommendations of the Birth Trauma Inquiry report.
As it stands, the 10-Year Plan shows promise in areas like digital records, perinatal mental health, and reducing inequalities more broadly, but until trauma-informed care is firmly embedded and made a standard, not a postcode lottery, many women will feel that their pain, stories, and needs are still being sidelined.
What real mums are saying
MadeForMums Community voices on birth trauma and what needs to change...
“I was tired, scared, in pain – and no one helped.”
Alice, a member of the MadeForMums Community, laboured for four days without sleep or support.
“I kept asking to talk about a C-section or induction, but the doctors were too busy. I felt like it was never going to end. Labour eventually progressed, but it shouldn’t be that traumatic just to be listened to.”
“My baby was bruised and battered – and no one explained anything.”
Tanya was induced without fully understanding her options and says delays and poor communication led to a traumatic forceps delivery.
“There was no pain relief for hours, the registrar didn’t even write up my notes, and I was referred to children’s services for bruising — even though it was caused by the birth. I felt completely unsupported.”
Both mums say better communication, more staff, and trauma-informed care should be basic standards, not something you have to fight for.
A national investigation is underway, but will it be enough?
In response to public pressure and private meetings with bereaved and traumatised families, Wes Streeting ordered a rapid national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services last month.
“This is personal,” said Streeting, speaking at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists World Conference in June. “I’ve heard devastating stories of trauma, loss, and a lack of basic compassion. What families have experienced should never have happened. We must act, and we must act now.”
The investigation, starting this summer, will look at the worst-performing trusts and system-wide failings. It will be co-produced with bereaved families and clinicians and will feed into a new maternity action plan.
Immediate actions include:
- New digital safety tools to flag risks
- More power for NHS leaders to intervene in failing services
- A new anti-discrimination programme to address inequality in outcomes for Black, Asian and deprived communities
- A national maternity and neonatal taskforce chaired by the Health Secretary
The announcement of the investigation was met by mixed reactions from campaign groups, many of which have been calling for action to fix what they describe as systemic issues that affect maternity care.
Vicki Robinson, Chief Executive of the Miscarriage Association, said in response to the government’s national maternity investigation announcement last month: “We hope this investigation leads to meaningful learning, and to better, more compassionate care for anyone experiencing pregnancy loss in the future.”
Similarly, Angela McConville, Chief Executive of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), praised bereaved families for pushing the issue onto the political agenda. But she stressed that progress must now be swift and systemic: “The national investigation must now move at pace to set out a clear, actionable plan for every NHS maternity and neonatal unit.”
While Laura-Rose Thorogood, CEO of Make Birth Better, said: “A rapid investigation is not going to unpick what is already inherently ingrained in our NHS. It needs to be part of the 10-Year Plan, with a clear strategic vision of how it will be achieved — with the service user voice at the heart of it. If it's not, then we will fall foul to another failed inquiry, with little positive outcome, and the statistics will remain unchanged, with women and birthing people dying or harmed."
The national maternity investigation is expected to report by December 2025. Until then, campaigners say, maternity reform must remain firmly on the agenda — not just in policy, but in practice.
MadeForMums has reached out to the Department of Health & Social Care for comment.
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Ruairidh is the Digital Lead on MadeForMums. He works with a team of fantastically talented content creators and subject-matter experts on MadeForMums.