Maternity Commissioner
Debate between Helen Morgan and Adam Dance(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank the hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for his excellent opening speech. I declare an interest as a member of the all-party groups on patient safety, on baby loss, on maternity and on birth trauma. Campaigners such as Theo Clarke, Louise Thompson and many more mothers and families over the years have been fighting tirelessly for the improvements that we desperately need in our NHS maternity services.
Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)
After lots of campaigning and hard work by NHS staff, Yeovil maternity unit will reopen tomorrow. The lessons learned from the closure of our unit will be included in the current national review into maternity services, but does my hon. Friend agree that the only way recommendations from the review will be properly implemented is with a national maternity commissioner and more consultant midwives?
Helen Morgan
I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention—he was quick off the mark. Yes, I agree that it will be useful to have a maternity commissioner to share those experiences and ensure that people learn from them.
The campaigners, Theo and Louise, have shared their heartbreaking experiences. I commend their work in securing this important debate. Liberal Democrats wish to be their allies. As a previous co-chair of the APPG on baby loss, I am all too familiar with the acute need for better standards of care for mothers across the country. I was also a member of the APPG on birth trauma when it was headed so ably by Theo Clarke, when the need for a maternity commissioner was first discussed and recommended. I am delighted to see the traction that this proposal has had thanks to the campaigning of Theo, Louise and many others.
Last month, the Lib Dems launched our maternity rescue package, which would guarantee high-quality care wherever people live and would make Britain the safest country in the world to have a baby.