Report from 14/07/26 Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee
We attended the Health Overview Scrutiny Committee meeting at Gloucestershire County Council on Tuesday, and it was wonderful to have such a strong turnout of mothers, babies and supporters.
It was especially heartening to see mothers and babies welcomed into the meeting and able to witness the proceedings. Babies are central to every discussion about maternity services, and their presence was a powerful reminder of exactly who these decisions affect.
Some members of the NHS leadership team came out to meet us afterwards, including Matthew Holdaway and Nicola Moore, the new Deputy Director of Midwifery, to expressed their desire to keep women at the centre.
During the HOSC meeting, it was encouraging to hear that Nicola has previous experience of continuity models and is passionate about this way of working and that the whole team are keen to meet.
💥🤷♀️But we must remain sceptical.🤷♀️💥
At the moment, these are verbal promises only. They have not yet materialised into action. There is still only one plan being pushed forward, and that plan does not include continuity of carer.
HOSC has now asked the Trust to answer the scrutiny questions we submitted, and we await those responses at the end of July.
Until then, we need to judge the Trust by what it does, not by what it says.
Women in Gloucestershire are still unable to access their lawful and safe choice of place of birth. Homebirth support remains unavailable, and women are still being denied genuine choice.
That is not a minor detail. It is an ongoing failure!!
Warm words are not enough.
We need the immediate restoration of meaningful place-of-birth choice, a clear and funded plan for continuity of carer, transparent answers to the questions raised, and genuine involvement of women, midwives and families before decisions are made.
We will keep watching.
We will keep asking questions.
We will NOT allow community maternity services to be dismantled behind reassuring language and promises of future change.
Women and babies in Gloucestershire deserve better — and we will continue to hold the Trust to account until they get it.
