Our maternity services need radical change. Women must

Wendy Savage on the Albany Midwifery Practice and missed chances to improve care for mothers and babies

Re your letters on how maternity services are failing mothers and babies (17 May), your readers are correct – there is a fundamental problem with our maternity services, which need radical change. As the World Health Organization stated in 1985, “birth is not an illness”; but NHS services treat childbirth as if it is.

In 1992, after years of campaigning, birth activists were delighted when the select committee chaired by Nicholas Winterton made far-reaching recommendations about reorganisation. The government responded by setting up a working party chaired by Julia Cumberlege. They reported in 1993 that women should be at the centre of care, midwives should have a greater and more autonomous role, and that there should be continuity of care.