Analysis: ~20,000 domestic abuse disclosures made to England's maternity services yearly
New charity analysis finds 3.3% of NHS maternity bookings involved a domestic abuse disclosure, with midwives calling for more training and support.
What to know
- Charity analysis estimates about 20,000 domestic abuse disclosures are made to maternity services in England each year, based on 3.3% of bookings across surveyed NHS trusts.
- Only 74 of 118 contacted trusts provided usable data, and experts say the true scale of disclosures is likely higher than reported.
- Midwifery and domestic abuse organisations say staff need specialist training and more resources to respond safely once a disclosure is made, amid existing workload and staffing pressures.
“Having worked as a midwife, health visitor and nurse across 33 years within the NHS, I know how important the relationship between a maternity professional and a parent can be. Creating the right opportunity to ask about domestic abuse, and knowing how to respond when someone says ‘yes’, can be life-changing.”
Judith Rees, COO and safeguarding lead, For Baby's Sake Trust · The Guardian ↗ · Sep 19
Gill Walton Chief executive, Royal College of MidwivesVeronica Oakeshott Interim head of external affairs, Women's AidJudith Rees Chief operating officer and safeguarding lead, For Baby's Sake TrustKate Brintworth Chief midwifery officer, NHS England
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Midwifery and abuse charities call for more staff training and support
Royal College of Midwives, Women's Aid and For Baby's Sake Trust respond to the findings by urging specialist training and adequate resourcing so maternity staff can follow through on disclosures.
“Midwives are often the only professional a pregnant woman sees regularly and alone, which makes them uniquely placed to spot the signs of domestic abuse and respond with care…”
— Gill Walton -
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"About 3.3% of maternity bookings made within NHS trusts across England involved a disclosure of current or non-recent domestic abuse. Applying this proportion to national NHS maternity bookings activity suggests there are approximately 20,000 disclosures of domestic abuse made within maternity services in England every year." https://www…
2 more of the top 3 · 3 posts in this stretch
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I had a baby this year and the amount of awful partners I've seen has been shocking. Two of the women I shared a ward with had partners who argued with them - one because a male saw her in the bath when she gave birth (assuming it was an emergency situation). One father trying to kick in the door of the ward and threatening to kill the staff. Then…
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I came here to find the blame the victim post. Inevitable on any post about women being treated badly by men.
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background
Analysis finds ~20,000 domestic abuse disclosures yearly in maternity services — For Baby's Sake analysis of data from 74 of 118 contacted NHS trusts finds about 3.3% of maternity bookings in England involved a disclosure of current or non-recent domestic abuse, extrapolating to roughly 20,000 disclosures a year nationally.
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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2 outlets Thousands of pregnant women in England are reporting domestic abuse. Midwives are struggling to cope
first by The Guardian, 3d ago · also Guardian