Record number of women left with life-altering injuries following childbirth

Indicating a possible national safety scandal, the number of women suffering from severe bleeding has doubled during an equivalent period five years ago.

Three in every 100 women suffered from serious tearing in the first half of this year, requiring emergency surgery, the study shows - a rate which has grown 29 per cent since 2021.

The Liberal Democrats called the analysis a "devastating indictment of our NHS maternity services".

Sir Ed Davey described it as a "scandal", with many people unaware of what is going on.

Speaking to GB News, he said: "This is a scandal, and I don’t think enough people are aware of it. We’ve had inquiry after inquiry and when you think about all those mothers and families who have been hurt by this, it’s just terrible. We’ve seen the loss of babies as well.

"We really should fix this. We want to make sure it’s at the top of the agenda, and we’ve been working with others.

Sir Ed said: 'This is not right in the 21st century - Britain should be the safest place in the world to have a baby.'

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"We’ve looked at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) findings — that’s the regulator — which found that over six in ten maternity units are unsafe."

The party pledged £600million last week to rescue Britain's failing maternity units, vowing to make the UK the safest place to have a baby.

It proposed one-to-one midwifery for every woman in labour, supported by around-the-clock presence of a senior consultant.

Year-round training for maternity staff was also among the proposals, as well as mental health support for women who suffer a miscarriage.

Lib Dem health spokeswoman Helen Morgan meeting with parents and babies during the party's conference in Brighton

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Sir Ed continued: "We are spending £1.3billion a year compensating people for negligence in maternity care - why don't we invest in success?

"We put forward a programme that costs a lot less than the £1.3billion we happen to spend in compensation to make sure we have the midwives we need."

The Lib Dem leader, in a separate comment, called upon Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to "act now with the staffing, training and resources maternity wards need. This crisis must end by the close of this Parliament".

One-in-10 women, equating to 54,000, were left alone during the late stages of labour or childbirth, the CQC survey data shows.

The Lib Dems said this situation was due to a lack of staff and training shortages.

Rates of major haemorrhage peaked between April and June this year, impacting 32.7 women per thousand.

The Department for Health and Social Care said: "Every woman deserves safe maternity care and the new health secretary 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."

NHS England said: "Too many women and families are not receiving the high-quality maternity care they deserve and we are committed to changing this.

It said that "immediate steps" were already being taken to improve maternity services, including efforts to reduce birth-related tearing and expand access to dedicated pelvic health centres.

Speaking to the People's Channel, Sir Ed concluded: "This is not right in the 21st century - Britain should be the safest place in the world to have a baby.

"We won't rest until that's the case."