Reports and statistics: Things you may have missed

A week past the Christmas and new year celebrations and you may be just getting back into the swing of work patterns. Or you may have been working long shifts over the period. Either way, you may have missed in the busyness some of the released documents over the past few weeks. Dr Jenny Hall, Midwife educator, researcher and editor for Matflix, highlights some of them, encouraging us to take action.

We have slipped into 2026 and somehow have reached a week past the new year celebrations. In the UK the news media is dominated by global concerns, weather and a winter flu crisis that our ailing NHS seemed to manage, despite a doctors strike. Hidden behind this over December until now life in the maternity world has been business as usual, with various reports and documents released that are relevant to services going forward. I add a quick summary here for you to then seek out the rest of the information.

Amos review

Back in the early weeks of December Baroness Amos released the Interim report from the rapid investigation into maternity services instigated by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (SoS}. The interim report shows the steps taken so far, including visiting some of the Trusts highlighted by the SoS, and meeting with people across a wide-range. The concerns of Baroness Amos at the negative responses from families have been widely reported, which also include some more positive reports around compassionate care. Staff in the Trusts, organisations related to maternity and stakeholders have also been spoken to, particularly those with concerns around inequality. It is of interest that a global perspective is also being taken, to establish good practice globally, and an exploration on the Coroner’s legal framework for investigating stillbirth. Looking at the reviews that have been undertaken in Wales and Northern Ireland is also an aspect of the remit. These add a different dimension to the review and what it is exploring. Though a final report will not be released until the spring, an initial report on the findings from the Trusts will be available in February.

This month a national survey for families will be open for 8 weeks, and there are plans to survey staff as well. (This is after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey (see below) that has already been carried out over a month last year.) It is important to pass this information to families in your care, so that a broad reach of answers may be received, as well as ensuring you give your views.

CQC Maternity survey 2025

The survey was based on the experiences of women who gave birth in February 2025. The results are based on 16,755 people, which was a response rate of 39%. Despite the reported concerns across maternity services, over the past five years there was noted a trend of improvement across the survey, specifically around communication, decision-making and mental wellbeing recognition. However, aspects that need addressing focussed on full information around induction of labour, being sent home or left alone at crucial points. Triage was raised as a key point for improvement, though it should be recognised that over 70% had more positive experiences with this. It is interesting to note that those who had poorer experience if English was their first language and in a younger demographic. Not having contact with the same midwife across antenatal, labour and birth is an issue (back to continuity of care…) along with experiences of assisted birth and emergency caesarean.

The survey is available here https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/surveys/maternity-survey

You are able to access information about your own Trust, and how well each area is doing in relation to the national trends.

Official NHS Maternity statistics 2024-25

The official statistics from NHS Hospital episodes for maternity services were published in December. They are stand alone statistics, so would need to search carefully for any comparison. However, it is pointed out these publications are evolving, and therefore may not be easily comparable. There is a national picture, but you can also drill down to find statistics locally. It is not easy to identify how many of these births were in midwifery led units or homebirths. There is an indicated trend of a decrease in the number of births nationally over this period. There is, however, it is noted that 45% of births were via caesarean; for those over 40 this rose to 59%, which raises many questions on the reasons for this. The average induction of labour in these results is 30%, not having increased significantly since 2014. However, in that time elective caesarean rates have doubled. Duration of postnatal stay is higher for those following caesarean. Data also includes aspects such as use of folic acid, perineal tears, initiation and continuation of breastfeeding and smoking in pregnancy.

The data can be accessed here: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-maternity-statistics/2024-25

In addition, there is news of a new signal system being rolled out, called MOSS, that is designed to improve safety. NHS England » NHS maternity signal system will spot and stop emerging safety concerns.

RCOG Maternity Service Standards Framework

In December the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists launched their Maternity Service standards framework. The aim is to provide “practical guidance to help support commissioners and service providers to deliver safer, more equitable and compassionate maternity care across the UK”. The standards are all encompassing, with a focus on the importance of personalised and compassionate care throughout. There is one that highlights the importance of continuity of care. There are particular ones to be addressed by commissioners and service providers as a whole, as well as those for maternity care staff across the multidisciplinary team. They are clearly laid out, in a way to make them measurable and auditable in the future. There is inclusion of pre-pregnancy care, the whole childbirth continuum, including fetal medicine, and infant feeding. There is finally a whole chapter dedicated to cross-cultural interpretation and communication. This is alongside a further set of standards Cross-Cultural Communication and Language Support: Standards for Maternity Care and Women’s Health.

The documents are both commendable, and if taken up by local services, could provide a strong framework for future organisation. It was good to see there were some midwives involved in the creation of the standards, and service users via the RCOG Women’s network. It does seem to have been a missed opportunity, however, for this to be a joint venture with the Royal College of Midwives, who were only included as peer reviewers for the document. It would have seemed logical to have presented a united front for future developments, especially as much of the care discussed it that carried out by midwives.

And finally:

As we go to press NHS England have released the Maternal care bundle for reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. There will be more on this as the implications in line with all the other changes taking place will emerge. Let us hope there is some joined-up thinking…

The issues of the maternity services in the UK has reached a point where ‘something has to be done’ and there is an air of anticipation and people being galvanised into action. For example:

• The People’s Birth tribunal have written an An Open Letter on Birth: In Defence of Midwives, Mothers, and the Truth calling for change and encourage us to sign and share
  An Open Letter on Birth: In Defence of Midwives, Mothers, and the Truth
• The call to Establish legal limits on midwives’ working hours following the deaths of Jennifer and Agnes Cahill, and the subsequent Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report. Petition · Establish legal limits on midwives’ working hours – United Kingdom · Change.org
  Leah will feature in a future Midwifery Hour podcast- watch this space for more details going forward.

We can only hope that the knowledge gleaned from the reports and statistics will lead to positive change. It is also up to each of us to take on board the information and address the things that we can change personally. The review, survey and framework all mentioned continuity of care. This clearly still should be the aim going forward.

January 2026

Dr Jenny Hall
Midwife educator, researcher and editor for Matflix