Key facts
- New Health Secretary Yvette Cooper aims to reform UK maternity care.
- Cooper plans to re-introduce binding national maternity standards.
- Reforms will address inequalities and the postcode lottery in care.
- The initiative follows several damning maternity scandals.
- Cooper will also focus on social care reforms.
Yvette Cooper, the newly appointed health secretary, has stated that women should not feel pressured to have an "ideal birth" and has promised comprehensive reforms to maternity standards. Cooper, who previously served as minister for public health under Tony Blair, returns to the department with a focus on maternity and child health, alongside implementing social care reforms.
In an interview with The Guardian, Cooper expressed concern about any pressure on mothers to conform to a specific birth experience, emphasizing the need for evidence-based, informed choices. She announced her intention to re-introduce binding national maternity standards, which were previously replaced by fragmented trust-specific practices. These new standards, to be developed by a maternity taskforce, will aim to eliminate the postcode lottery in care, address racial inequalities affecting black and Asian women, incorporate patient experience into measurements, and provide early warnings of underperformance.
Cooper described the reports of maternity scandals as "traumatic" and stressed the need for systemic change, stating her personal mission to place maternity and child health at the heart of the NHS. She noted that discussions about prioritizing mothers' needs have occurred for two decades but felt this emphasis had been lost. Cooper is committed to responding to major independent inquiries, including those by Donna Ockenden and Valerie Amos, which highlighted systemic clinical errors, understaffing, and toxic institutional cultures leading to preventable deaths.
She also addressed the backlash to Amos's review, particularly regarding the "normal birth ideology" and the proposed maternity commissioner. Cooper affirmed her commitment to introducing such a commissioner to champion the needs of mothers, babies, and families within the NHS. She acknowledged the need to tackle oppositional cultures between doctors and midwives in some trusts and emphasized that women feeling unheard is a significant cultural issue.
Cooper, who recently served as foreign secretary, is prepared for challenges in implementing Andy Burnham's social care reforms and establishing a national care service. She believes the recent change in prime minister was necessary for the party to win the election, expressing renewed energy and focus on public concerns.