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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Imagining breech birth without bord…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 3 By Rixa Freeze, PhD For a long time, breech birth lived in my mind as a question I could not quite put down. It was never just a clinical…

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Supporting informed choice for wome…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 3 By Amy Meadowcroft, RM, MClinRes Introduction This article uses the terms “women” and “mothers” in relation to biological sex and reprodu…

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Mary Cronk MBE – Upholding the skil…

AIMS Journal, 2026, Vol 38, No 3 By Joy Horner For those who may not be familiar with the life and work of the late, great Mrs ("My friends call me Mary”) Cronk, she was…

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Events

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AIMS Workshop: Understanding Twin T…

Stephanie Ernst, founder of the TAPS Support Foundation, will be explaining the issues that can arise in different types of twin pregnancies, and what twins parents need…

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ARM Winter National Meeting

Respect, Rights & Real Midwifery The ARM toolkit How do we not only survive but thrive in midwifery? Our winter meeting brings together midwives, students and supporters…

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AIMS Workshop: The Foundation Stone…

Join us for one of our series of interactive online AIMS workshops " The Foundation Stones for Supporting the Physiological Process in Pregnancy and Birth ". Please follo…

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Latest Campaigns

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Making Modern Service Frameworks: m…

By Catherine Williams, on behalf of the AIMS Campaigns Team Introduction: the Amos Review and the prospect of a Modern Service Framework for maternity The recommendations…

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National maternity and neonatal ser…

By Jo Dagustun on behalf of the AIMS Campaigns Team In this briefing note, Jo offers an account of what has been happening following Wes Streeting’s 2024 commitment to ov…

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Scottish Perinatal Framework: Alter…

AIMS was set to review the document Framework for maternity healthcare professionals to support individualised care for women who choose alternative/non-standard birth ch…

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