science
England Records Highest Rates of Severe Childbirth Tears and Haemorrhage Since 2020
NHS figures show third- and fourth-degree perineal tears at 31.1 per 1,000 births in Q1 2026 and postpartum haemorrhages at 31.2 per 1,000 in 2025, both the highest since monitoring began in 2020. The data precede a government report on maternity care due Tuesday.
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The rate of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears during childbirth in England reached 31.1 per 1,000 births in January to March 2026, the highest level recorded since monitoring started in 2020, according to NHS England data reported by The Guardian.
The postpartum haemorrhage rate rose to 31.2 per 1,000 births for the full year 2025, also the highest annual figure in the five years of collection. Both rates stood at 25 per 1,000 births for tears and 25.6 per 1,000 for haemorrhages when first published in June 2020.
The haemorrhage rate reached 31.65 per 1,000 in 2025 before easing slightly to 31.2 per 1,000 in early 2026. Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson who obtained the figures, said behind the statistics were women facing trauma that required surgery and months or years of recovery.
The Department of Health and Social Care called the trends concerning and noted that too many women are failed by poor-quality maternity care.
Lady Amos’s government-commissioned report into childbirth care is scheduled for publication on Tuesday. The government plans to release an action plan to transform maternity services by the end of 2026. Last week the Department expanded Martha’s Rule to every maternity and neonatal unit in England.
Donna Ockenden published a report last week into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and is investigating services in Leeds and Sussex. Dr Kim Thomas, chief executive of the Birth Trauma Association, said the recorded rise in tears could reflect better diagnosis through a new care bundle or factors such as older mothers, Asian women, and forceps deliveries.
