Disabled Women: Maternity Care

14. What steps his Department has taken to improve maternity care for disabled women.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her work on raising the profile of this underserved area. It is simply unacceptable that disabled women are at higher risk of neonatal and perinatal mortality and stillbirth, and that they continue to experience adverse outcomes relative to the general population. That is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has launched an independent maternity investigation, which will help us to understand the systemic issues behind why so many families, including disabled women, experience unacceptable care.

Too often, disabled women’s bodies are deemed not to count. In the last year, I have met two incredible disabled women: Carly, a Paralympian, and Sarah, an occupational therapist. Neither found out that they were pregnant until their second and third trimesters respectively because none of their clinicians considered that they might be pregnant. But we are making babies, we are having babies—against the odds; we have a 44% higher likelihood of stillbirth—and we are being brilliant mothers. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss ensuring that inclusive maternity care for disabled women is at the heart of our women’s health strategy so that our womanhood is no longer invisible?

We are so lucky to have my hon. Friend in this place, challenging us to be better—and we can be better. We need to be bolder, and we need to take decisive action to close the gap on inequalities to ensure that all women receive safe, personalised and compassionate care. We know how important inclusive maternity care is for disabled women. I note that my hon. Friend has previously had meetings with the Minister for maternity, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State would be delighted to meet her.

A matter of weeks ago, a power cut plunged parts of Eastbourne district general hospital, where I was born, into darkness and forced our maternity unit to temporarily close, particularly affecting disabled women. People had to use their iPhone torches to see. Despite that power infrastructure failure, we are way at the back of the queue for new hospital funding. Will the Minister commit to accelerating the unlocking of that cash, so that women can have the services they deserve—

Order. I have spoken before about trying to drag in a supplementary question that is not relevant to the main question. I call the shadow Minister and welcome him to the Dispatch Box for the first time.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Seven months ago, the NHS 10-year plan promised a maternity taskforce. May I ask the Minister how many times it has met?

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. I am informed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State that it has not met yet, but we are establishing it and it will be meeting soon.

The fact that the taskforce has not even met, seven months later, tells us everything we need to know about how urgent and important the Government consider this issue. In Leeds, families are losing faith in the failing maternity services. The Secretary of State said that he takes the matter “extremely seriously”, yet Donna Ockenden—who exposed the failings in Nottingham, has the support of families, and has said that she is ready and willing to lead the inquiry—has not been appointed. If the Minister and the Secretary of State take this issue extremely seriously, why have they not appointed a chair yet?

I see that the brass neck of the hon. Gentlemen’s predecessor has been transplanted to him. He talks about seven months, but what about the last 14 years, through which the Conservatives presided over the decay and decline of our NHS? They failed our patients and the clinicians who serve them. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is in regular contact with maternity families and, like me, he takes the matter extremely seriously. He will report to this House on the outcome of his deliberations on a regular basis.