This week on Breaking the Taboo, Theo Clarke hosts a special live panel recording from the Birth & Beyond Tent at the Everywoman Festival in London: State of the Nation: What Needs to Change in Maternity Care?
Joined by investigative journalist Hannah Barnes, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Dr Susie Crowe, and Birth Trauma Association CEO Dr Kim Thomas, Theo explores the current state of maternity services in England and asks what meaningful reform should look like for women, babies and families. Topics discussed on the show include: the rise in birth trauma; whether maternity care faces a crisis of safety, trust, or both; why women often feel unheard during pregnancy and birth; accountability and learning when things go wrong; improving care throughout pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period; variation in outcomes between maternity units; the role of data in NHS care; what a truly woman-centred maternity system could look like; and an update on the current investigations into maternity care led respectively by Baroness Amos and Donna Ockenden.
BIOGRAPHIES
Hannah Barnes is Investigations Editor at the New Statesman, where she focuses on the topics and stories shaping the world we live in. An award-winning journalist, she spent 15 years at the BBC specialising in analytical and investigative journalism on both television – for BBC Newsnight – and radio. Hannah produced, edited and reported for many of Radio 4’s best known news and current affairs shows. She is the author of Sunday Times Bestseller, *Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children*.England’s maternity crisis is in desperate need of reform, and Hannah Barnes has already established herself as the reporter best placed to deliver it, exposed legal gaps that left bereaved families without answers, and stayed with those families long enough to ensure the promises made to them were kept.
Dr Susie Crowe, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist at Barts Health NHS Trust and President of the British Intrapartum Care Society (BICS). Susie also serves as the National Workplace Behaviours Adviser for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and previously led the joint RCM/RCOG safety programme Each Baby Counts Learn and Support. With a wealth of leadership experience – from intrapartum lead and clinical director to regional lead obstetrician for London – Susie is passionate about improving maternity care. She believes that delivering high-quality care starts with creating nurturing, compassionate environments where teams feel safe to thrive.
Dr Kim Thomas is CEO of the Birth Trauma Association. She authored the 2024 Parliamentary Inquiry report into birth trauma and has written two books on birth trauma, including on PTSD.
Theo Clarke (Chair) hosts the hit podcast Breaking the Taboo on women’s health which ranks in Top 5% most listened to shows around the world. She has also published a bestselling memoir ‘Breaking the Taboo: why we need to talk about birth trauma’. She was the Member of Parliament for Stafford, chaired the first parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma in British history and previously set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Birth Trauma in the House of Commons. Theo has served as parliamentary private secretary at the Departments for Education, Business and Trade and HM Treasury, in addition to being Trade Envoy for the Prime Minister. She won Speech of the Year at the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and was included in the prestigious Top 100 Women in Westminster list in 2025 and 2024.
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
**DISCLAIMER:** This show is not intended to be medical advice – please seek advice from a GP or doctor.