All healthcare professionals who work in maternity care should be shocked, but might not be surprised, by the report of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma.12 It is concerning that, after multiple reports,3 policy change, and investment, so many women and families have such profoundly distressing experiences.General practitioners are now often deskilled or untrained in routine maternity care, but every MBRRACE (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audit and Confidential Enquiries) report into maternal deaths shows that they are frequently involved in the perinatal journey, especially complex cases.4 The deaths are the tip of an iceberg of physical and psychological perinatal morbidity that conceals terrible trauma for families.Most perinatal maternal deaths occur postnatally but not immediately after the birth.4 Women and partners need support for birth trauma postnatally, yet postnatal care is fragmented, with many multidisciplinary professionals involved but no effective leadership. We were therefore surprised that this…
