Sharp rise in maternal deaths in last decade ‘an absolute tragedy’

The rate of women dying during or soon after pregnancy in the UK has increased by 20% over the last decade despite the Conservatives having pledged to halve it, according to figures experts described as “an absolute tragedy”.

- Andrew Gregory Health editor

In 2015, Jeremy Hunt, then the health secretary, vowed to reduce maternal deaths by 50% by 2030 and make the NHS “one of the safest places in the world to have a baby”.

In 2017 he brought the date forward to 2025. However, figures from MBRRACE-UK, a research project led by the University of Oxford, show the maternal mortality rate over 14 years of Conservatives government went up, not down.

Health leaders and campaigners said the 20% increase between 2009-11 and 2022-24 showed something had clearly “gone badly wrong”.

The rate of indirect maternal deaths caused by preexisting conditions exacerbated by pregnancy was largely unchanged over the last 15 years, up by 3%. However, the number of deaths that were linked directly to pregnancy including from bleeding, blood clots and pre-eclampsia rose by 52%.