Is the NHS failing women and babies?
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Too many women and babies are not getting the safe, compassionate care they deserve.”
The starkest of warnings has been issued by the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Professor Ranee Thakar, about the failures in maternity services across the country.
A new Sky documentary, Birth Trauma: The women who weren’t listened to, tells the stories of three women who were failed by the NHS.
But why is maternity care so bad in the UK? And what can be done to improve the experiences of women and babies?
Niall is joined by Leah Hazard, a practising NHS midwife and bestselling author of Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story, to understand what leads to negative birth experiences and what changes she hopes a national inquiry will recommend.
Producer: Tom Gillespie
Editor: Mike Bovill
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sky News, the full story first. |
| 0:08.2 | As NHS trusts across England are investigated over failures in maternity wards, |
| 0:14.1 | Sky News hears firsthand how women are being let down, time and again. |
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| 1:22.1 | Traumatic births are more common than anyone would wish. |
| 1:26.3 | And a new Sky News documentary reveals |
| 1:28.0 | that the effects of substandard maternity care |
| 1:30.6 | can be felt long after any delivery. |
| 1:33.8 | This is something that I haven't wanted to think about, |
... |
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