16/02/2026
The NHS today is not the same one that our mothers and grandmothers experienced or even the one I worked in for many years.
NHS maternity services have always been medicalised and shaped by patriarchal structures, and they were never without their problems.
However, interventions happened when clinically indicated not because of fear of litigation.
There was time for compassionate, personalised care. There was a genuine sense of community, not only within the wider community, but within the wards themselves. The women cared for in that system felt it.
While working within the protocols and guidelines, there was also space for nuance and professional autonomy.
Staff were paid properly, wards had a full compliment of staff who had regular breaks, so they could work at their best.
Large institutions serving a broad spectrum of society will always be imperfect. But it makes me deeply sad to see what is happening in the NHS.
This is not about midwives, who are breaking under a system that no longer values them or the women they serve. It is about the many governments over the past 15-20 years that have allowed this to happen while blaming us all for the decline.
Women need doulas and midwives more than ever. The ones that listen without judgement, respect their decisions and bodily autonomy and believe in physiological birth in a system that is in decline.
They still exist and are still fighting.
Photo of me in 1997 as I started my midwifery training.