How Safe Is My Baby? The Truth Behind Our Failing Maternity System
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the tragic death of Jennifer Cahill
— a woman whose story continues to shake the maternity world.
The response was overwhelming.
Messages came flooding in from parents, midwives,
and birth professionals who all recognised the same heartbreaking pattern:
a system stretched beyond its limits,
where good people are left trying to hold things together.
But the greatest tragedy isn’t just what happened to Jennifer.
It’s how little we seem to be learning from it.
Once again, the real issue has been misunderstood.
Midwives are being left to patch up the gaps in an unsafe system
— and then blamed when things go wrong.
Jennifer had been signed off by the obstetrician,
yet no risk assessment or care plan was ever put in place for her homebirth.
Well-planned homebirths are safe.
But a homebirth attended by exhausted midwives
— midwives who have just completed a 12-hour shift on labour-ward,
who have never met the mother, learned her history or
— is not safe.
It’s not because they are bad midwives.
It’s because no amount of experience can overcome the pressures of a broken system.
“There’s only so much you can do.”
In the new BBC Disclosure documentary
— How Safe Is My Baby? —
midwives in Scotland speak out about the conditions they are working under.
Their words could have come from almost any hospital in the UK.
“It doesn’t matter how experienced you are
— if you get to the saturation point where there are too many patients and not enough staff,
there’s only so much you can do.”
“Maternity investigations elsewhere in the UK all found a failure to listen to women and families.
Serious adverse event reviews are not always undertaken as thoroughly as they might be
— and learning from these is not always made.”
These aren’t isolated voices.
They echo reports from every recent maternity investigation across the country.
The same findings come up again and again:
unsafe staffing levels, ignored warnings,
and a failure to truly listen to women and families.
A system that blames rather than learns
Time and again, inquiries and reviews reveal that the lessons are not being learned
— and that the same conditions persist.
Spikes in baby deaths.
Repeated
“never events.”
Families told they are “one of the unlucky ones.”
Meanwhile, midwives on the ground know the truth.
They’re scared.
They’re exhausted.
And they know that what’s being delivered is not good enough
— despite giving everything they have.
It’s no wonder so many are leaving the profession or choosing not to return.
Midwives don’t come into this job for the paperwork, the politics, or the targets.
They come because they care deeply
— because they want to know the women they support,
to see them through pregnancy, birth, and beyond.
Doesn’t everybody want that from their job
— to feel they are making a difference?
Continuity saves lives
When women are known by name
— not just by their notes —
everything changes.
Continuity of care builds trust, competence, and calm.
It means fewer babies die.
Fewer mothers suffer trauma.
And midwives feel fulfilled, rather than broken.
The system doesn’t need more blame.
It needs rebuilding — from the ground up — around relationships, not rotas.
Because as one midwife put it, “It’s as critical as I’ve ever seen it.”
So, as a woman or family expecting a baby — what can you do?
The good news is that there are many ways to stack the odds in your favour and reduce the risk of complications before they arise. Your body holds incredible wisdom, and small, consistent changes can make a huge difference.
Nourish your body with real food.
Excellent nutrition
— even on a budget —
is one of the most powerful things you can do.
Eating well supports your immune system,
balances hormones, and reduces the risk of pre-eclampsia, preterm labour, and infection.👉 Read more: Real Nutrition in Pregnancy: Beyond Supplements Towards Real Food
Stay hydrated.
Drinking clean, mineral-rich water supports healthy blood flow,
kidney and liver function, and helps remove toxins for both you and your baby.
Good hydration truly is a quiet superpower for pregnancy.Seek continuity of care.
While true continuity isn’t always possible through the NHS, there are options to create it yourself.
You can hire a Doula (£2–3k),
a Traditional Birthkeeper (£3–4k),
or an Independent Medical Midwife (£8–10k) to walk alongside you.
Just because doulas and birth-keepers are non-medical
doesn’t mean their presence won’t have a profound impact.
👉 Read more: The Evidence for Having a DoulaPractice Pregnancy Yoga regularly.
The evidence is incredible
— yoga supports your physical, emotional, and hormonal balance,
while improving outcomes for both mother and baby.
👉 Read more: Pregnancy Yoga – The Evidence Every Midwife Should Know
Keeping yourself in the best health possible not only supports your body and baby
— it also reduces your need to rely on a system already stretched to its limits.
Taking back power — and demanding better
Yes, our NHS should be doing better.
Yes, we need gold-standard, one-to-one midwifery care.
And yes,
we need to be shouting at the tops of our voices for more investment,
better education,
and more personalised,
humane maternity services.
But in the meantime,
many women and midwives are stepping outside of the system altogether
— because they see its flaws and want something better.
Freebirth (birth without medical attendance) is growing,
not because women are reckless,
but because they are taking radical responsibility for their health and autonomy.
Preliminary figures released by the RCM suggest an incredibly low stillbirth rate among these births
— yet the system shows far more concern about these empowered women than it does about its own failings.
The truth is,
there is risk and benefit in every path
— especially in birth.
There is risk in handing your care to a failing system,
and there is risk in stepping away and taking full responsibility.
The decision remains — thankfully,
while the UK remains a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights
— with the individual woman,
to make the choice she feels is right for her and her baby.
My role in this
My role is simple:
to walk beside women, whatever they choose.
To inform, support, and remind them of the power and wisdom their bodies hold.
Sometimes that means demanding better care.
Sometimes that means saying,
“No thanks — that’s not for me.”
But it is never for Midwives,
Doctors,
Ministers,
or Coroners
to decide on a woman’s behalf.
Let’s stand behind birthing women.
Let’s listen — not overpower them,
not frighten them,
and not silence them.
This is about respect.
It’s about truth.
And it’s about reclaiming birth as the deeply human,
relational, sacred act it was always meant to be.
References & Further Reading
Nutrition & Pregnancy Health
Aune D. et al. (2023).
Maternal dietary patterns and the risk of pre-eclampsia: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Nutrients, 15(5):1038. PMC9830236
Mazloomi S. et al. (2022).
High dietary fibre intake and reduced risk of pre-eclampsia: a case-control study.
Nutrients, 14(14):2951. PMC9237898
Jeyabalan A. et al. (2023).
Mapping maternal nutritional determinants of pre-eclampsia: an umbrella review.
BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, 23:550. PMC10442797
Yarmohammadi S. et al. (2024).
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and pre-eclampsia risk: a meta-analysis.
Nutrients, 17(12):2025. MDPI link
Hydration & Maternal Wellbeing
Malisova O. et al. (2020).
Associations between hydration state and pregnancy complications: a systematic review.
Nutrients, 12(2):470. PMC7006388
Moghaddam Tabrizi F. et al. (2021).
Hydration status and birth outcomes among pregnant women.
Midwifery, 100:103071. PubMed 34527228
Stookey J.D. et al. (2023).
Maternal hydration and pregnancy health: a review of evidence and recommendations.
Nutrients, 15(3):602. PMC11075850
Continuity of Carer & Birth Outcomes
Sandall J. et al. (2016).
Midwife-led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 4. CD004667
Birthplace in England Collaborative Group (2012).
Perinatal and maternal outcomes by planned place of birth for healthy women with low-risk pregnancies.
BMJ, 343:d7400.
BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth (2017).
Birth trauma: prevalence and risk factors associated with care provider actions.
Human Rights & Birth Autonomy
Human Rights Act 1998 (UK). legislation.gov.uk
European Convention on Human Rights, Article 8 – Right to respect for private and family life.
Birthrights (2023). Maternal decision-making and human rights in maternity care.
birthrights.org.uk
Advocacy, Education & Professional Bodies
AIMS – Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services:
campaigning for better maternity care and informed choice since 1960.
ARM – Association of Radical Midwives:
supporting midwives, students, doulas, and birthworkers who believe in compassionate, woman-centred midwifery.
IMUK – Independent Midwives UK:
the professional body for independent midwives offering continuity-led, relationship-based care.
Midwifery Today:
an international publication sharing evidence,
experience, and inspiration from midwives and birthworkers around the world.
Birthrights:
the UK’s leading charity championing human rights in childbirth.
Community, Doulas & Traditional Birth Support
Emma’s Antenatal – Traditional Birthkeeper & Doula Services:
supporting women and families across the Forest of Dean and beyond with holistic,
non-medical, relationship-centred care.
Complete Support Pre & Postnatal Package: for those seeking full continuity before, during, and after birth.
Postnatal Doula Support & Massage:
gentle postnatal recovery and nurturing care for body and mind.
🌿 Coming soon: Free Doula Support Scheme
I’ll soon be launching a community initiative offering one free doula place each month for a woman or family from a marginalised or minority background in the Forest of Dean.
If you’d like to nominate someone or learn more about how this works, please get in touch here.