Addressing the crisis in our maternity wards

There are few days in your life which you remember with such clarity as those of the birth of your children.

- Alex Cole-Hamilton

On the three occasions my wife safely delivered our three kids, it is only thanks to the professionalism and quick thinking of the midwives who stewarded her care that things came off largely without a hitch.

I wish that our experience was the same for everyone, but it seems in the decade since we had cause to use Scotland's maternity services, outcomes have deteriorated, sometimes to the point of tragedy and the morale of our hardworking staff has taken a nosedive.