EXCLUSIVE: Polling shared with The Mirror reveals that 79% of women are concerned about standards of maternity units as the Lib Dems call for an emergency package of measures to be introduced
New polling reveals the scale of concerns about maternity services(Image: Getty Images)
Three quarters of Brits are concerned about hospital birth standards following damning safety inspection ratings, new polling shows.
Research shared with The Mirror reveals that 79% of women are overwhelmingly concerned that no NHS maternity units achieved an outstanding safety rating – while two thirds are unsafe.
On Sunday the Lib Dems demanded an emergency rescue package to deliver one-on-one midwifery for every mum. A survey of over 2,200 adults, carried out by Survation, found 75% are concerned about maternity care standards in NHS hospitals, including 35% who are ‘very concerned’.
It follows Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections between 2022 and 2023 which found that two-thirds of NHS maternity units in England were rated either ‘Requires Improvement’ (47%) or ‘Inadequate’ (18%) for safety.
Not a single maternity unit achieved an ‘Outstanding’ rating for safety. Lib Dem MP Helen Morgan, the party’s health and social spokesperson, said: “The last Conservative Government neglected maternity services even as the scandal of unsafe care grew worse and worse.
“It’s no wonder that a significant majority of Brits are fearful about the conditions mothers are having to give birth in. This is the reality of years of Conservative underfunding – a world-leading health service has been reduced to conditions where a mother cannot even feel confident bringing a baby into the world in today’s Britain.”
She called on the PM to spell out bold plans to urgently improve maternity services. Ms Morgan continued: “Andy Burnham should listen to mums and take a new approach that guarantees one-to-one care. It is a national disgrace that two-thirds of maternity units were found unsafe by inspectors.
“Mothers and hard-working midwives and doctors have been utterly failed. We need urgent action so no family has to go through childbirth in fear , and trust in the NHS can be restored. Liberal Democrats won’t rest until Britain is the safest place in the world to have a baby.”
The poll of 2,213 adults found 35% were very concerned about maternity care standards, while 40% said they were fairly concerned. A further 12% said they were not very concerned, and just 4% said they were not concerned at all.
Men were twice as likely to say they were unconcerned.
It comes after The Mirror revealed at least five babies have been born in ambulances, A&E departments and hospital reception areas amid the Devon maternity scandal.
The birthing wing at North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple temporarily shuttered in August due to staff shortages – forcing hundreds of women to make the two-hour-long journey to Exeter to give birth.
Tragically last month it emerged that a mum who had to make her own way to Exeter arrived to be told her baby had died. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Every woman deserves safe maternity care, and the Secretary of State has made this issue a personal priority. Through the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, that she is chairing, this government will deliver the reforms needed to ensure the very highest standards of safety and care for every mother and baby.
“In the meantime, we have invested £271 million since April 2025 to tackle critical safety risks in maternity and neonatal units, and we are expanding Martha’s Rule to every maternity ward in England to ensure the concerns raised by women and their families are acted upon. We are also appointing England’s first ever statutory Maternity and Neonatal Commissioner to ensure that the recommendations and actions agreed by the Government are implemented in full, and translate into better, safer care for every family.”
