Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care

We were delighted to be able to play a part in the development of the 2019 MBRRACE-UK report, and welcome its emphasis on the many health and social factors at play in the lives of women who die during or in the year after pregnancy. This represents a major step forward in understanding the significance of inequality and multiple disadvantage in maternity care.

As the report clearly states, and as we have been emphasising for many years, there is an urgent need for more data to be collected on the nature of the multiple disadvantages women may be facing during pregnancy, birth and early motherhood, and for all the services working with those women to be in a better position to understand and respond to the complex, specific nature of their needs. 

The women whose deaths are explored in this vital report represent the most tragic of outcomes, and lessons must be learned from these tragedies in order to improve care across the board. The number of deaths are thankfully few, but they are still too many, and there are many more near-misses, failures, and missed opportunities that also carry life-long implications for thousands of women and their families.

The full report, summary, and infographic are available from the NPEU website.