Your Voice Matters
GMAG exists to represent the voices of local women, mothers, birth partners and families across Gloucestershire.
We continue to raise concerns at NHS management level about the future of maternity services in the county, including the suspension of home birth services, changes to postnatal care, the future of midwife-led care, and the need for proper public involvement before long-term decisions are made.
This work has been ongoing for some time.
GMAG has already taken action, asked questions, submitted Freedom of Information requests,
raised concerns publicly, and held discussions with Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
We will continue to engage in discussions where they are useful. We will continue to gather evidence from local families. We will continue to scrutinise decisions, question the lawfulness of service changes where needed, and explore all available routes to ensure maternity services are reinstated or redesigned in a safe, lawful and genuinely woman-centred way.
We welcome meaningful engagement.
But we are also clear that consultation must not be a tick-box exercise,
and listening must lead to action.
That is why we are collecting real maternity stories from across Gloucestershire.
By sharing your story with GMAG, you help us build a strong evidence base for the work we are already doing. Your experience helps show what maternity care in Gloucestershire feels like in real life — not just what appears in policies, pathways, board papers or public statements.
We want to hear about your experiences of maternity care — positive or negative, recent or historic.
We want to hear about:
• Pregnancy care
• Labour and birth experiences
• Induction and caesarean experiences
• Home birth or midwife-led care
• Postnatal care
• Continuity of carer
• Feeling listened to — or not listened to
• Birth trauma and recovery
• Positive examples of excellent care
• Experiences of inequality, discrimination, coercion or lack of choice
• What helped you feel safe, respected and empowered
• What you believe needs to change
Real stories are powerful.
They help decision-makers understand not only what is happening on paper, but what families are actually experiencing.
Whether your experience was empowering, traumatic, healing, disappointing, positive, or somewhere in between — your voice matters.
Your story can help strengthen the call for maternity services that are safe, local, lawful, respectful, and genuinely centred around women and families.