When a Norfolk woman’s home-birth service was suspended, she refused to give up. With AIMS and Birthrights’ support, she challenged her NHS Trust — and won. The Ombudsman ruled the Trust’s refusal to fund independent midwifery care amounted to maladministration, setting a vital precedent for maternity rights today.

A record of emails sent on 9 November 2025 to key decision-makers and commissioners at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The answers to this crisis already exist — in policy, evidence, and proven models that work.
So what is the barrier? And will we ever be told?

An overview of the freedom of information requests already made. Will they reveal why the Trust is failing in it’s duty to provide safe and equitable maternity care when the answers have been laid out?

Following the ongoing suspension of Gloucestershire’s home birth service, women are left without real choice or continuity of care.
This post brings together template letters for writing to the NHS Trust, ICB, MPs, local media, and even family and friends — calling for safe, skilled, woman-centred midwifery care to be reinstated.
It also includes my correspondence with the Director of Midwifery, her unsatisfactory response, and why I’ve now escalated these questions through Freedom of Information requests to demand transparency and accountability.

To understand today’s maternity crisis, we have to look back.
From the pioneering Albany Midwifery Practice to the hopeful Better Births reforms — and the dismantling that followed through the loss of supervision, the COVID collapse, and the Ockenden fallout — this timeline traces how continuity of care was built, broken, and why its loss now costs lives.

When NHS home-birth services are suspended, women’s legal right to birth at home does not disappear — but the support that makes that choice safe and trusted does. Gloucestershire’s withdrawal of home-birth midwifery cover leaves families without professional care, continuity, or confidence. This open letter calls for transparency, creative staffing solutions, and respect for women’s rights.

When BBC Disclosure aired “How Safe Is My Baby?”, it echoed the same themes that surfaced in the tragic case of Jennifer Cahill — exhausted midwives, unsafe staffing levels, and families caught in the cracks of a broken system.

In this article, I explore what’s really behind these tragedies: not “bad midwives” but an overstretched, fragmented model of care that fails to value relationships. I also share practical steps every family can take to stack the odds in their favour — through good nutrition, hydration, continuity, and body awareness.

Because real safety in birth doesn’t come from control — it comes from connection, knowledge, and respect.

Nearly £20 million has been paid out in birth-injury claims by Gloucestershire Hospitals since 2020 — but what these figures really show is a system that’s failing women and families. This post explores how the loss of continuity of care has made maternity services less safe, and why rebuilding small, trusted teams could save lives — and money.

After submitting Freedom of Information requests to Gloucestershire NHS bodies, I examined the documents claimed as evidence of “co-production” in maternity services. What I found was activity without accountability — meetings, events, and reports that spoke the language of collaboration but delivered little change. Here’s what the papers reveal, and why true partnership still matters.After submitting Freedom of Information requests to Gloucestershire NHS bodies, I examined the documents claimed as evidence of “co-production” in maternity services. What I found was activity without accountability — meetings, events, and reports that spoke the language of collaboration but delivered little change. Here’s what the papers reveal, and why true partnership still matters.

Jennifer’s story isn’t about reckless choices — it’s about a reckless system.
A system that replaces relationships with flow charts and calls it safety.
Continuity of care saves lives.

Fear and fragmentation cost them.

Across Gloucestershire and beyond, conversations around informed choice and consent in maternity care are more important than ever. From birth plans and homebirth decisions to the way information is shared during labour, women deserve to be listened to and supported as active partners in their care. This article explores how the landmark case Montgomery v Lanarkshire (2015) shaped the legal and ethical foundations of consent — and why understanding it matters for both women and maternity professionals.

Becoming a parent is a big moment — and everyone deserves support, safety, and respect. Each month, I’m offering one free Doula (Birth Companion) & Advocacy place for someone in the Forest of Dean from a minority or migrant community — such as Romanian, Indian, Polish, Zimbabwean, refugee/asylum-seeking and other under-represented families.

Recent media portrayals of freebirth and doulas advising women against medical advice are nothing short of fear-mongering propaganda. The truth is far more nuanced, and frankly, more damning for the state of maternity care in the UK. Instead of addressing the systemic issues driving women to explore alternatives, the media—with its clear agenda—seeks to demonise those who dare to question the failing system.

Let’s be clear: the NHS is overstretched, and maternity care is in crisis. …