A forthcoming parliamentary debate on the petition calling for the appointment of a Maternity Commissioner ‘to improve maternity care for mums and babies’ is scheduled for April 20, 2026.
It is the view of AIMS that the forthcoming parliamentary discussion about the proposal for a new Maternity Commissioner is an unhelpful use of parliamentary time, as this - currently poorly conceptualised - proposal can only be sensibly considered as part of a wider systemic review.
AIMS - a small service-user led and volunteer staffed charity, with 65 years experience of witnessing a succession of UK maternity service problems and improvement initiatives - suggests that the proposal to create a new national role of Maternity Commissioner, whilst founded on good intentions, is an unnecessary distraction. We support the Government’s response to the petition that such a proposal can only be sensibly addressed in the context of a wider systemic review.
What we know: the road to a poorly functioning maternity service - our poorly functioning maternity service - is paved with good intentions.
The maternity system in England is overwhelmed with multiple roles and organisations. These were each intended to make a positive difference: to support a well-functioning maternity service. But time and time again, we see that they don’t achieve their promise. Rather, we see an overlapping set of organisations, too often working in silos, with roles within these organisations insufficiently focussed on delivering a high-quality maternity service and lacking effective accountability and leadership functions. That is what is needed to enable our huge maternity service workforce to deliver effectively for women, babies and families.
We don’t need another poorly defined add-on to sort out the current mess: we need serious and timely reform.
This proposal is a cry for help. We understand that. But we would ask its proposers and supporters to look again: what are the issues that they are seeking to address with this proposal? How will this proposal contribute to safer, more personalised and equitable maternity services? What is the context in which this proposal is made? To do this, they must examine - not ignore - the existing elements of the system that are currently failing to deliver. It’s important as well to assess this proposal in the context of the UK experience with existing commissioner-like activity, in maternity, in the health service and beyond.
AIMS is strongly of the view that the case for a Maternity Commissioner has not been made and we consider that this proposal at this time is instead an unhelpful distraction to the work of maternity service improvement.
AIMS Campaigns Team, 7/4/2026
We hope that this page is of interest, especially to our colleagues in the maternity services improvement community.
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AIMS supports all maternity service users to navigate the system as it exists, and campaigns for a system which truly meets the needs of all.