Six out of ten maternity deaths were 'avoidable' with better care, new reviews finds
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By ROSIE TAYLOR
Published: | Updated:
Record numbers of mothers are dying avoidably in maternity care as preventable deaths hit a 15-year high, data shows.
Some six in ten who died in pregnancy, birth or the postnatal period between 2022 and 2024 could have been saved with better care – an all-time high since records began in 2009.
The rise comes despite a decade of promises from ministers to improve maternity safety.
Bereaved families called the increase 'disgraceful', while doctors and midwives warned under-resourced and short-staffed maternity services cannot always provide safe care.
Of the 252 pregnant women or new mothers who died between 2022 and 2024, 178 were included in the in-depth review by research programme MBRRACE-UK at the University of Oxford.
Its analysis shows that of those, 108 might still be alive if they had received the right care.
Although maternal deaths remain rare, the rate of women dying due to treatable complications, such as blood clots, is 57 per cent higher than it was in 2010 despite a government pledge to halve maternal deaths compared with 2010 levels.
Allison Felker, maternal programme lead for MBRRACE-UK, said: 'If these conditions are properly recognised and managed then many of these deaths could be prevented.'
Families take part in a minute silence following the publication of an independent report into maternity care at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust
She added: 'Mistakes sometimes get made because staff are overstretched. But it is also often the case that staff are going above and beyond but there simply isn't capacity in the system.'
Jeremy Hunt promised in 2015 to cut the maternal death rate to 5.32 per every 100,000 woman giving birth by 2030.
But the overall rate (including indirect causes) has climbed to 12.80 per 100,000 – more than double the target – while the rate of direct deaths jumped to 5.94 – three times higher than the 1.89 target. The 61 per cent of preventable deaths between 2022 and 2024 is up from 52 per cent in 2019 to 2021 and 41 per cent in 2013 to 2015.
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'Too many women have not received the maternity care they deserve. The Health Secretary has made this issue a personal priority.'
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