About us
Families Failed by OUH Maternity Services launched in June 2024 in response to growing concerns over the safety and quality of Oxford University Hospitals maternity care.
Since then, over 350 Oxfordshire families have joined the campaign, with more joining every day - highlighting the urgent need for an investigation.
Despite the Care Quality Commission rating OUH Maternity Services as ‘Requires Improvement’ in 2021, families’ experiences show that critical issues remain unresolved.
We strongly believe that avoidable failings are being made within OUH Maternity Services and that a maternity scandal is unfolding in Oxfordshire. That’s why we are calling for an independent inquiry to urgently protect families from future harm.
Campaign committee
Rebecca Matthews
I co-founded the Families Failed by OUH Maternity Services campaign in 2024. After experiencing the traumatic birth of my son in 2016, when I was denied a caesarean having been diagnosed with late-onset pre-eclampsia, I left the John Radcliffe Hospital a shell of myself and developed severe postnatal depression. Discovering that Oxford University Hospitals had banned maternal request caesareans, I began campaigning for change. My experience has led me to changing the focus of my PhD to explore birth trauma. In 2021, after enduring horrific postnatal care at the same hospital after the birth of my second child, I became even more determined to advocate for safe, compassionate and trauma-informed maternity care. The substandard care that women and babies are enduring within OUH maternity services has to end; it is ruining lives.
Kim Thomas
I co-founded the campaign with Rebecca Matthews. As CEO of the Birth Trauma Association, a charity that supports people affected by traumatic birth, I had become particularly concerned about the stories I’d heard about maternity care at Oxford University Hospitals. Having been shocked by the findings of investigations into maternity units at Shrewsbury and Telford and East Kent, I realised that the best way of finding out what was going wrong at OUH was to carry out a similar inquiry.
Alice
I joined the campaign because my daughter Smokey died, what I believe to be a totally preventable death in full-term labour at Oxford University Hospitals in 2023. I was left begging for the basic care of a scan after being offered it by my midwife only to have it refused by senior staff multiple times in the last week of my daughter's life. I understand that my care did not follow national guidelines in multiple instances and followed what appears to be an experimental growth pathway. My induction timing was advised dangerously late for my risk factors. I'm still fighting to get honesty and transparency from the Trust about my daughter's death. An external investigation into Smokey's death has been completed which found multiple failures in my care which may have contributed to the outcome. I joined because I cannot allow this preventable harm to continue.
Claire*
I joined the campaign because of the lasting effects our experience still has on our family now. My only experience of birth prior to being pregnant myself, was as a student, where I witnessed a still birth and maternal haemorrhage. I was denied an elective caesarean at OUH and ended up referring myself to another hospital, as it was clear that against NICE guidelines, OUH was not going to initiate this. As I was considered a more higher risk pregnancy, having been under the silver star team, the communication between the two trusts was extremely disjointed, leading to a very stressful experience. There was a huge focus on natural birth, and I did not receive any personalised care at any point and was told I would have to give birth on delivery suite, which is the only place I did not want to. I felt like a blight on their statistics rather than someone deserving of care.
Chloe*
I joined the campaign because of the inadequate care I received when having my baby in 2023. We felt coerced into not having a caesarean despite obvious signs of foetal distress and enduring a week-long latent labour. This unfortunately resulted in an emergency caesarean hours later. I also experienced completely inadequate care on the postnatal ward where I was denied pain relief and left without help after suffering complications. I left the John Radcliffe traumatised due to multiple avoidable failings in my care and I do not wish for any families to ever have a similar experience happen to them.
Rachel
I joined the campaign because when I had our daughter in November 2017 there were many failings throughout her delivery which resulted in an emergency c section. Our daughter was born unable to breath independently and she had developed a pneumothorax due to the birth. We attended the birth after thoughts meeting and were told that our experience was a one off and unfortunate. We believed them! I now know very differently. We feel lied to and wish we had taken our experience further and complained. Unfortunately, as it is 7 years ago now, there is nothing that can be done and we are now left angry and frustrated. We feel that OUH staff didn’t put our best interests at heart; they only care about their statistics of natural births and not the impact this mentality can have on women and their babies. You should be able to attend a hospital, give birth and feel confident that you are safe and will be cared for. This was not our experience and I wish to share my story so that it may help stop the disgraceful care and will change things for the better.
Laura
I joined this campaign group to ignite change and challenge power. The JR's values are excellence, compassion, respect, delivery, learning and improvement, but my experience in the maternity services did not resemble any of these. Joining this group provided me the comfort and care that was missing from my experience - one which, was meant to be empowering and consensual. Childbirth is one of the few times you enter hospital that doesn't involve an injury or disease. It should be one that offers expert care with the upmost compassion, empathy and respect, but it left me in unimaginable pain fighting for my life on a crisis line due to intense psychological trauma. The treatment I received was far from a service or care - it amounted to my suicidal thoughts and attempts on my life that should have been preventable. Suicide is still one of the leading causes of maternal death during the year after birth and the experience on offer needs changing to ensure people - including healthcare professionals in maternity services and beyond - do not factor in to the reasoning behind those deaths. I am lucky to still be here, thanks to a small handful in my inner circle. If it weren't for those few, I wouldn't have been here with the many calling for change and accountability.
Charlotte Matthews
I’m Rebecca’s sister and joined the Committee to support the campaign’s communications. The experiences that women and their families have endured are horrifying, with misogyny running through them all - infantilising women, gaslighting and lying to them, dismissing their pain, and failing to respect their rights and dignity. Oxford University Hospitals must truly listen to these brave families to understand the devastation its care has caused. Change must happen now.
*These committee members are using pseudonyms to protect their identities.