We launched our private Facebook group for peer support in 2008. In those 17 years we've supported thousands of parents who have been through traumatic birth. Today membership reached 20,000.

"My brain was still awake at night with anxieties swirling around. I would wake up unrefreshed, exhausted. It was difficult to get out of bed. It felt like my legs were weighed down with lead." Very vivid account of postpartum mental illness. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Asian women in England are almost twice as likely to suffer the most severe birth injuries during labour, with many healthcare professionals unaware of this greater risk, analysis has found." www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

"Born with a complex medical condition, Tammy was never supposed to give birth naturally, but because the medical teams had failed to check or recognise she needed a caesarean, she suffered horrific birth trauma injuries." www.sundaypost.com/fp/transform...

We're lucky enough to have some wonderful fundraisers. A huge thanks to everyone who raised money for us in 2025: www.instagram.com/p/DSXDJ_QCJ-5/

This is very good news.

This is really moving - and will strike a chord with many women. www.instagram.com/reel/DRKhrF_...

"As well as stories of physical trauma, there were many reports of significant mental health impacts, some of which are ongoing decades after the births took place, in some cases contributing to decisions not to have further children." We see this too. news.sky.com/story/birth-...

Staff at OUH "are being advised to downplay press reports of bad care if concerns are raised by worried mothers." Good to see Hannah Barnes continuing to draw attention to OUH's attitude towards mothers. www.newstatesman.com/investigatio...

Really pleased to share this podcast discussing Baroness Amos's National Maternity Review from Bolt Burdon Kemp, one of our Trusted Legal Partners. tinyurl.com/3fmn53jm.

"Ms Palmer said no-one told her what had happened and she only found out when she went to see him in neo-natal care." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A really shocking story about how the activities of the Free Birth Society let to the death of twins. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Prof Susan Ayers published an astonishing 12 papers from March-August this year. Here are the doi's of a few of them: doi.org/10.1080/2329..., doi.org/10.1136/bmjg..., doi.org/10.1080/1381..., doi.org/10.1186/s128...

'Families, they explained, wanted “accountability for the Boards, executives, and clinical leaders whose governance failures allowed harm to continue for years,” as well as the proper investigation of individual cases.' www.newstatesman.com/politics/hea...

"Waters continue to leak and on walking to the bathroom I found the previous mother's vomit and blood on the floor and I hopped over her intermittent splashes to the toilet. I sat on the birthing ball crying in pain for a few hours." news.sky.com/story/your-s...

Very interesting research showing a strong link between traumatic birth and postnatal depression. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Really great to see this publication from Jo Cull on how to approach trauma discussions in maternity care. It's an extremely valuable piece of work that will benefit pregnant women with previous experience of trauma. bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1...

Consensus statement on research priorities in women's health. Many thanks to RCOG for giving us the opportunity to take part in this. www.rcog.org.uk/about-us/qua...

'She experienced bleeding, then turned pale and was short of breath with blue lips, but maternity staff at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust, who assessed Katie only over the phone, dismissed it as a possible “panic attack”.' inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

Many thanks to Olivia Boschat of our trusted legal partner Bolt Burdon Kemp for this excellent blogpost about our conference. We were so pleased to see so many people come together with a shared desire to improve maternity care. www.boltburdonkemp.co.uk/our-insights...

A remarkable and shocking investigation into the Free Birth Society. “There’s an overall assumption that death is the wrong outcome,” she said. “And I don’t think that can really ever be true.” www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Kerry's story of birth trauma and the loss of a child. A donation from every copy sold will be given to the children’s hospice who supported the family. www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Foreve...

Disappointing not to see more representatives of harmed parents in the taskforce. They have a better understanding than most of the problems in maternity. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

How fantastic to see Gill Castle lead a group of women with stomas and birth trauma to in an expedition to climb Kilimanjaro. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Looking forward to our #ImprovingMaternalSafety2025 conference tomorrow. Lots of excellent speakers, great venue, an opportunity for people who care about maternal safety to share ideas and experiences. tinyurl.com/bdxcmkfr

Just one week to go to our conference on Improving Maternal Safety, with a fantastic line-up of speakers. You can buy your ticket here: www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

Really delighted to be welcoming Dr Chris Dewhurst to our conference on 18 November. Chris is a renowned neonatologist who will be talking about prevention and treatment of hypoxic brain injury. www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

Hannah Barnes and Channel 4 have carried out an in-depth investigation of maternity failings at OUH.Warning: this is a very distressing read - but a hugely impressive achievement by Hannah and the C4 journalists. www.newstatesman.com/politics/hea...

Another disturbing story of poor maternity care from Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. www.banburyguardian.co.uk/health/someb...

“Events can occur during labour in which rapid access to medical care is critical, such as when a baby becomes stuck on the pelvic bone, uterine rupture, haemorrhage or umbilical cord problems.” Good piece on home birth. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Delighted to welcome Natalie Patterson, a mental health midwife with years of experience of supporting women with trauma, to our conference on 18 November. Buy your tickets at: www.tickettailor.com/events/birth... #ImprovingMaternalSafety2025

"The lines of accountability in maternity care are unclear – units are run by midwives, but when something goes wrong they have to call in doctors. As well as a dual power structure, there is a tension between the priorities of the two professions." observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Pleased to see Wes Streeting commit to tackling medical misogyny in maternity - but we have a long way to go. observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

'At least five of England’s top-rated maternity units have been forced to turn pregnant women away because of “significant and unanticipated increases in demand”, despite birth rates falling across the country."' observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

A group of 7 bereaved parents have written a petition to the next Welsh Govt. They are calling for targets to save more babies' lives and better care for people following pregnancy or baby loss. Please add your name and help them create change in Wales. act.sands.org.uk/sign-petitio...

"The coroner expressed her concern that it was unlikely most women understood the more limited role and experience of community midwives who attend home births, compared to hospital midwives." www.fieldfisher.com/en/injury-cl...

Very excited to be welcoming Dr Anita Banerjee to our conference as chair of a distinguished line-up of panellists discussing racial disparities in maternity. We still have a few tickets available, which you can buy at: www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

The introducion of an OASI care bundle in Norway led to a 63% reduction in anal sphincter injuries over 21 years. A similar bundle is being rolled out in England - but are maternity units implementing it? www.ajog.org/article/S000...

Delighted to be welcoming Rosie Duffield MP to our maternal safety conference on 18 November. Rosie will be chairing a discussion on the future of maternity policy. There are still a few tickets left at www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

We have a free legal consultation on medical negligence in birth on 4 November with Lauren Hurney of @irwinmitchell. To book your free 30-minute slot, please email Lauren at [email protected] or call her on 07740179194

We're delighted to welcome Alicia Burnett, founder of Black Baby Loss Awareness, to our panel on racial disparities in maternity at our conference on 18 November. There are still a few tickets left at: www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

Fascinating article - lots of opportunities for more and better research into women's health. www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...

Olivia Bowen had a prolapsed bladder and a postpartum haemorrhage.'I kept saying to Alex ‘am I alright? What’s happening? Am I going to be okay?’ because I genuinely thought in that moment I might lose my life,” Olivia said.' www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz...

A lot of people have asked to see our conference programme - you can see our full list of speakers and topics here: static1.squarespace.com/static/645b7... And you can buy tickets here: www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

💜 Speaker Spotlight: Dr Sindhu Natarajan We’re delighted to welcome Sindhu to our conference. She was the senior programme manager for the E-MOTIVE trial studying early detection and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage. Tickets are available at www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

We have a free legal clinic coming up with @irwinmitchell on 4 November. To book your free 30-minute consultation, or to arrange an alternative slot, please email Lauren at [email protected].

Four weeks to go! On 18 November, we’ll gather at BMA House for a full day focused on making birth safer. ✨ Baroness Merron will open the conference as keynote speaker, setting the stage for a powerful programme of insight and collaboration. 👉 Book your place: www.tickettailor.com/events/birth...

"The number of mothers sustaining a third- or fourth-degree perineal tear while delivering their baby has risen from 25 in 1,000 in June 2020 to 29 in 1,000 in June this year." Worrying, given the introduction of the OASI care bundle. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

"All community midwives were concerned about high risk ladies having home births. That’s not what we were trained for. We were trained to look after low risk ladies in home births," Ms Nixon said. Incredibly sad case. www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

This week we are thinking of everyone who has been affected by baby loss. Baby Loss Awareness Week is an opportunity for everyone affected by stillbirth or neonatal death to come together to remember their much-loved and missed babies. We are holding you all in our hearts. #BabyLossAwarenessWeek2025