Despite Government guidance permitting partners or loved ones to attend both scans and the entirety of labour, during the COVID-19 pandemic many NHS Trusts around the country forced expectant mothers to attend important scans, miscarriages and labour alone.
That is why I launched a national campaign to make sure every Trust did right by pregnant women and their partners, and ensured women had support at all pregnancy scans and all stages of labour. To kick off my campaign I was pleased to have the support of 60 Conservative MPs in calling on every Trust in the country to update their policies in line with Government guidance and I launched the campaign with the Mail on Sunday, Pregnant Then Screwed and Birth Better.
I secured the backing of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock for my campaign who called on all NHS Trusts to adopt Government guidance.
Pregnant myself during the pandemic, I was enormously lucky that my NHS Trust had changed its procedures immediately when lockdown ended, so my husband attended all scans for our baby. But I led this campaign because it was unjust that women in so much of the country including Rutland and Melton did not have the same support from their loved ones, and to fight for the partners locked out of hospital rooms anxiously separated from those they love most in the world.
In May 2021, I was delighted that every hospital in England finally allowed pregnant women to have their partner at their side.
