Campaigns

AIMS has campaigned for improvements to the maternity services in the UK since 1960.

We campaign at national level for a maternity system that is safe, personalised and equitable. To achieve this, we call for a system that is physiology-informed by design, where all staff respect women’s rights, listen to their concerns and wishes, and support their informed decision-making, and which is underpinned by full-pathway, community-based Continuity of Carer for all.

AIMS comments on the 10 Point Plan announced following the June 2026 Ockenden and Amos Reports

In the light of two recently-published hefty reports on the past and present functionality of the maternity and neonatal services, first in Nottingham…   Read more…

Making sense of maternity service recommendations: we need a better approach

By Jo Dagustun, Senior Campaigns Volunteer As readers grapple with the latest set of national recommendations and actions from Donna Ockenden's Nottin…   Read more…

Rebirth Festival, Athens, April 2025 – Keynote talk by Jo Dagustun

Background: AIMS is a member of ENCA - the European Network of Childbirth Associations 1 . Each year, one of the member associations hosts a two day g…   Read more…

Review: National Cohort study on induction at 39 weeks

This is a review of the paper (https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004259%20 ) published on July 20, 2023 by resea…   Read more…

ARM National Winter Meeting 2022: Continuity of Carer is the future. An AIMS Perspective.

Jo Dagustun, AIMS Volunteer and Campaigns Team Member This is a tidied up version of a speech that AIMS Volunteer Jo Dagustun, gave at the 2022 Winter…   Read more…

SWEPIS – The Swedish Post-term Induction Study

The evidence on whether there is a benefit in inducing labour if a pregnancy would otherwise last beyond 41 or 42 weeks is far from clear. 1 The SWEPI…   Read more…

AIMS critique of the Intrapartum Care Chapter of the Ockenden Report

For this critique we have focused on Chapter 8 of the final Ockenden report 1 , which covered findings about intrapartum care. This chapter is a quali…   Read more…

AIMS Campaigns Team comment on the Ockenden Report and next steps

As long standing campaigners for improvements in the maternity services, AIMS deeply regrets the long series of failings that have led to the Ockenden…   Read more…

Ockenden 2022: if we want to see real change, then transparency and accountability is key, says AIMS

10am on Wednesday March 30, 2022: the final Ockenden Report is published. 12.45pm the same day, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Saj…   Read more…

Beverley Beech summarises the HIW's report into the case of Clare Fisher and the failings of the LSA

Focussing on the failings of the LSA in the case of Clare Fisher: The Healthcare Inspectorate Wales’ report (2013) Summarised by Beverley Beech In 201…   Read more…

The backlash against Normal Birth

Beverley Lawrence Beech At an AIMS AGM it is customary for the Chair to give an account of the activities of the Committee during the year. I am not g…   Read more…

Latest Content

Journal

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Sovereignty of the Body: Birth, Int…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Tamara Blakemore The First Breath I’m a birth artist, and apparently I’m here to talk about the sovereignty of the body, which feels s…

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Scottish Maternity Update: Review o…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Camille Del Pozo and Anne Glover on behalf of the AIMS Campaigns Team Background AIMS wrote to Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for He…

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The sovereignty of the body in preg…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 2 By Alex Smith Welcome to the June 2026 edition of the AIMS journal. This issue is about the sovereignty of the body in pregnancy and chil…

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Events

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Threads of Protest

Join us for the launch of Threads of Protest A new exhibition at Science Gallery London exploring inequality in maternity care through creative practice, lived experience…

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AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Rights i…

Join us for one of our series of interactive online AIMS workshops, " Focusing on Rights in Pregnancy and Birth ". Emma Ashworth (principal author of "The AIMS Guide to Y…

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AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Inductio…

Join us for one of our series of interactive online AIMS workshops, " Focusing on Induction of Labour ". Nadia Higson (principal author of "The AIMS Guide to Induction of…

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Latest Campaigns

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AIMS responds to the Nursing and Mi…

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (the NMC) has been consulting on proposed changes to its education standards, including “whether education standards for midwives could…

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There is no plan B: continuity, acc…

The evidence collected from women and staff all points in the same direction: a system that feels fragmented, inconsistent, and, at times, unsafe. Women describe not bein…

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Making sense of maternity service r…

By Jo Dagustun, Senior Campaigns Volunteer As readers grapple with the latest set of national recommendations and actions from Donna Ockenden's Nottingham report , Valeri…

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