Yvette Cooper, the newly appointed health secretary, has pledged comprehensive reforms to maternity care in England, aiming to address longstanding concerns over standards and systemic failings. Returning to the Department of Health nearly three decades after serving as public health minister, Cooper emphasized the importance of prioritizing maternity and child health alongside broader social care initiatives.

In an interview, Cooper voiced concern about pressures placed on women to achieve an “ideal birth” experience, highlighting the need for agencies to respect individual circumstances and evidence-based informed choices. She referenced reports revealing instances where some maternity units hesitated to escalate medical intervention due to a preference for natural births, sometimes to the detriment of patient safety.

One of Cooper’s immediate priorities will be reinstating national maternity standards that were dismantled during early Conservative reforms to the National Health Service (NHS). These standards, to be developed by a newly established task force, will seek to replace the current fragmented and trust-specific practices with uniform, binding requirements. A key goal is to end the so-called “postcode lottery” in care quality and address disparities impacting disadvantaged communities and ethnic minorities, particularly Black and Asian women, who have experienced poorer maternal outcomes.

Cooper, who was the first junior health minister in the 1990s to take maternity leave, described recent maternity scandals as “traumatic” and stressed the need for systemic transformation. She underscored the vital role of centering care on women and families, noting that recent reports and inquiries indicate that this principle has too often been overlooked in practice.

She cited two major independent inquiries into maternity failings as central to her reform agenda: the Donna Ockenden investigations into serious trust-level deficiencies in Shrewsbury and Telford and Nottingham, and the national review led by Valerie Amos. Both inquiries highlighted widespread clinical errors, understaffing, and harmful institutional cultures that contributed to avoidable maternal and infant deaths. A recurring theme was an institutional reluctance to listen to mothers and a tendency toward defensive cover-ups.

The Amos review has faced criticism from some quarters, including the resignation of an expert adviser over concerns the report did not sufficiently caution against what critics call a “normal birth ideology.” Some families have also questioned the effectiveness of Amos’s recommendation to establish a statutory maternity commissioner, fearing the role may lack true independence.

Despite the controversy, Cooper reaffirmed her commitment to introducing a maternity commissioner, emphasizing the importance of having a dedicated advocate for mothers, babies, and families within the NHS framework.

In addition to maternity reforms, Cooper indicated she would focus on delivering major social care changes promised by the government, including the creation of a national care service championed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and driven by Andy Burnham, the health secretary’s predecessor. Cooper, a close ally of Labour leader Keir Starmer and a former leadership contender herself, expressed optimism about the renewed energy within the department and an alignment between the leadership’s priorities and public concerns.

“We’ve always said the NHS is about the cradle to the grave,” Cooper stated, underscoring her determination to make maternity and early child health central to the health service’s mission going forward.