The Health Secretary has described the fear she faced during childbirth as she set out the Government’s priorities for women’s health in 2024.
Victoria Atkins said her own ‘frightening’ pregnancy experience reinforced the drive to improve maternity care and reduce traumatic birth experiences.
“For me this is personal. The NHS diagnosed me with type 1 diabetes at the age of three. And so I’ve seen the very best of the NHS, but I’ve also seen some of its dark corners. One of those dark corners was when I was pregnant,” she said in a speech to mark the second year of England’s 10-year women’s health strategy.
“Pregnancy with type 1 diabetes can be a very medical process. And there came a point in the pregnancy when it became clear that the baby had to be born early. And so I was rushed to the hospital.”
The hospital was “amazingly helpful” but did not have the facilities to care for someone who went into premature labor with complications, she said.
“They put me in a ward with women who had just given birth, literally come out of theater and had had very traumatic experiences,” she said.
‘And you will understand how deeply worrying and dare I say frightening it was to be in that ward with women who had been through a hellish experience, who were in pain, who needed very, very urgent medical treatment. That I can be there, ready to have my baby.”
Atkins, who has a son called Monty, said while she knew everyone was doing their best, standards needed to be improved.
She said: “I really want to make sure that women who are expecting and who find that they need a little extra help don’t find themselves in that situation and that they don’t face the fear that I faced. And like I say, I absolutely understand and it’s very personal to me.
Speaking at the first Women’s Health Summit in London on Wednesday, Atkins praised Conservative MP Theo Clarke, who himself suffered a traumatic birth and is now leading a parliamentary inquiry into it.
“Some mothers simply undergo unacceptable care and live with the consequences of that trauma for the rest of their lives. Some have told their stories in the media, about harrowing experiences with tears, operations and pain.
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“And they did this because they want to shine a light on the impact of such experiences.”
Referring to figures released last week showing that between 2020 and 2022, 293 women died during pregnancy, or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy, she said this meant that “293 families are mourning the profound loss of a mother who will also be someone’s daughter. partner, wife, sister or friend and their babies who lived, where their loss is indescribable”.
Atkins announced £50 million of new funding for research to tackle maternal inequality and support for research into other aspects of women’s health.
Specialist mental health care is expected to be available to women in all parts of England by March, and every woman who gives birth will have a check-up with their GP within eight weeks, with a focus solely on mental and physical health.
“We will encourage more research into lobular breast cancer and other unresearched health problems in women, as well as conditions that affect women and men differently, such as heart attacks,” she said.