A report into maternal deaths shows the urgent need to improve staffing levels to ensure the safety of maternity care, says the Royal College of Midwives.
The 2026 MBRRACE-UK report shows that maternal deaths remain at historically high levels, and specifically identifies workforce capacity as a patient safety issue. It says maternity services need to keep pace with “increasing maternal complexity and clinical demand”, including through regular reviews of capacity across staffing, emergency triage and operating theatres.
The report includes examples where pressures on staffing and capacity may have affected care. In one example where the woman died from infection, assessors found that service pressures and midwifery staffing below recommended levels may have affected the woman’s care and could have changed the outcome.
MBRRACE has now made a national recommendation for governments across the UK to review theatre and workforce capacity planning to take account of the additional workload associated with an increase in complex pregnancy and a rise in caesarean births.
Hannah Leonard, RCM Chief Policy Officer, said: “Every woman whose death is included in this report leaves behind a heartbroken family, motherless babies, friends and loved ones.
“This year’s report is particularly clear about the link between staffing, capacity and safety. Midwives want to give women the safest possible care, but they need to be working in services that have enough staff and enough capacity to respond when a woman’s needs change or an emergency happens.
“Safe staffing is fundamental to safe maternity care. These findings reinforce why we need urgent long-term investment in the maternity workforce and services that are properly resourced to deliver the critical improvements.
“What’s important to remember is that while midwives play a pivotal role in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth, outcomes for women and babies depend on a well-resourced multi-professional team and joined up services with women at the centre.”
The RCM’s latest member survey found that nine in 10 midwives who responded said staffing levels affect the care they are able to provide.
The MBRRACE-UK report found that 252 women died during pregnancy or within six weeks of the end of pregnancy between 2022 and 2024. The maternal mortality rate remains virtually unchanged from the previous reporting period and is 20% higher than in 2009-11, when the previous Government set an ambition to halve maternal deaths in England by 2025.
The report also shows that stark inequalities in maternal outcomes remain. Black women have nearly three times the maternal mortality rate of white women, while women living in the most deprived areas have almost twice the mortality rate of those living in the least deprived areas.
During pregnancy, childbirth and the first six weeks, blood clots, cardiac issues and mental health conditions were key causes of death, followed by epilepsy and stroke. Suicide remains the leading cause of maternal death between six weeks and one year after pregnancy. Overall, mental health conditions, including suicide and substance use, accounted for a third of deaths during this period.
