Planet Normal: ‘There is a culture of not listening to women’, says co-chair of Birth Trauma Inquiry
“We need someone looking at maternity care who is not biased, not within the NHS, but has the qualifications to do it.”
On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to Rosie Duffield about how women and families have been let down by maternity services in the UK.
The MP for Canterbury, who is co-chair of the Birth Trauma Inquiry, was asked how the Birth Trauma Inquiry compares to the Post Office and Infected Blood scandals. ‘I think it is really scandalous, but that is what happens when we don’t join the dots. With the blood scandal, everything was joined and made a national problem, just like the Post Office. But I think with maternity, we have been looking at various [NHS] Trusts and we haven’t been joining [them] up and learning to use best practice.’
The report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma put forward 12 recommendations and Rosie appreciates trust has to be rebuilt with the NHS; “We’ve got to build trust by getting better, by never having these things happening again, either individually or on a large scale like this…We need to listen to women, we need to see the statistics on Black and Asian women dying in childbirth come right down. All of those are urgent, but we need staff to feel valued, respected and listened to as well as patients.”
Reflecting on her time as an MP, Rosie dismisses the idea of being on the frontbench again. ‘I came here as an ordinary woman, so seeing things with my normal person’s eyes is quite shocking at times. But I’m going to carry on calling out [issues] because that’s what I’m there to do. I’m not there to be part of any establishment, and I think we need people like me telling the public the truth about politics.’
Find out how you can join Allison and Liam for the 200th episode of Planet Normal live here
Listen to Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, using the audio player above or subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app
